Guild Wars 2

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAseRnknB1ohNoBmpBEgilTjiMA2ggysF2mboOar2uF-TJBBABBcKAkvMAAPBAa2fAA

This is a build I made just to try something new and it ended up working decently well I wanted to know if there were anyway to improve this build and what your thoughts are on it. I would like to keep it power based though and not condition damage.

(Sigil of Paralyzation and Rune of the Mesmer say they increase daze and stun duration and it does show on the build editor site, but in-game they do not affect the skills whatsoever) It might be a hard cap or they just don’t stack with the trait mesmer has.

You seem to focus a lot on dazing and stunning foes, so why did you pick power block over mental anguish?

And with the chrono trait, you are at 99% crit chance against slowed enemies. Because of that I would ditch the sigil of accuracy for something like sigil of impact or paralyzation. Both of them will work with the stun/dazes you are going to be putting out.

I’m trying to actively interrupt people, it’s difficult right now because I’m still trying to learn the animations of each class to know when to use my skills, but that is the reason I tried to have so many ways of getting Slow so it will be a bit easier.

I chose Power block because my goal is to interrupt as much as possible and burst when they are helpless. I use mental anguish on my pure shatter build.
- the reason I want to interrupt is because it applies quickness, 5 stacks of might, 1 random buff, and deals extra damage while applying weakness, slowing, immobilizing, applying 5 stacks of vulnerability, and 1 random condi (Blind, cripple, or chilled.) to the person I interrupted

I would use Paralyzation but for some reason it doesn’t do anything in-game, same goes for Rune of the Mesmer. it doesn’t change the tooltips and when I use a skill and time how long it lasts it doesn’t seem to be affected.
- Found impact but I may consider switch back over to signet of air for the little extra damage while not being as situational. Because I do have access to a lot of stuns and dazes but if the fight draws on too long I won’t be able to get as much use out of impact as I would like.

I can see why you would focus on interrupting enemies, I was just confused with the dazes and stuns on your utility bar. Not sure why sigil of paralyzation isn’t working though. Might be a bug might be intentional.

Since the signet could get up to like a 5 second stun with Paralyzation, I feel like it may be a un-noted hardcap.
I have Mantra of Distraction because I can use it even if I am hard CC’ed and Dazes and Stuns still count as interrupts if I can time it when the person is casting something.

Mesmer rune doesn’t (or didnt) stack with CS.

Builds two biggest weaknesses are conditions, and ranged pressure.

Two solutions for that are adding in stealth, and/or utility cleanse. Well of Eternity can give you a cleanse, and putting leadership rune on will turn your G-well into a 2 condi cleanse. Mantra cleanse is your strongest option. Otherwise it’s a matter of giving up the Chaos line.

Second biggest weakness is the single stun break. Especially on a glass build.

Change furious interruption for shattered concentration. You can’t interrupt targets with stability so having the ability to remove boons is what you want, albiet need in this build. We’re in a stability spam meta, it’s hard enough running a rupt build these days without boonstrip.

Thank you for the advice Ross Biddle, I used to run Inspiration with the healing mantra and I still do with my other builds, but I wanted to do something really out there.

I’ll switch over to Shattered Concentration but I do not want to give up the Chaos tree just yet and most likely switch out the signet for Decoy or Mirror Image. A good bit of my protection came from Mantra of Distraction and Mirror of Anguish since I could still interrupt someone while hard CC’ed (I’ll have to check again, because I’m pretty sure I have been able to use my Mantra while knocked down and through other forms of CC), and if things got too dicey just Blink out.

I’ve mainly been avoiding 1v1 confrontations and usually +1 a fight and try to shut people down so that other people can defeat their enemy and move on to a point with me.

I usually play with a Revenant buddy now so I’m usually trailing behind him and helping him achieve his full burst.

You already have good crit chance, no need to buff it further with danger time. You’d get much more out of illusionary reversion and I’d even say go with chronophantasma. More illusions = more potential damage any way you slice it.

Cheshire.2465:

Thank you for the advice Ross Biddle, I used to run Inspiration with the healing mantra and I still do with my other builds, but I wanted to do something really out there.

I’ll switch over to Shattered Concentration but I do not want to give up the Chaos tree just yet and most likely switch out the signet for Decoy or Mirror Image. A good bit of my protection came from Mantra of Distraction and Mirror of Anguish since I could still interrupt someone while hard CC’ed (I’ll have to check again, because I’m pretty sure I have been able to use my Mantra while knocked down and through other forms of CC), and if things got too dicey just Blink out.

I’ve mainly been avoiding 1v1 confrontations and usually +1 a fight and try to shut people down so that other people can defeat their enemy and move on to a point with me.

I usually play with a Revenant buddy now so I’m usually trailing behind him and helping him achieve his full burst.

Mantras can be used under any circumstance (once charged). It’s their main feature. That and being instant.

Cheshire.2465:

Thank you for the advice Ross Biddle, I used to run Inspiration with the healing mantra and I still do with my other builds, but I wanted to do something really out there.

I’ll switch over to Shattered Concentration but I do not want to give up the Chaos tree just yet and most likely switch out the signet for Decoy or Mirror Image. A good bit of my protection came from Mantra of Distraction and Mirror of Anguish since I could still interrupt someone while hard CC’ed (I’ll have to check again, because I’m pretty sure I have been able to use my Mantra while knocked down and through other forms of CC), and if things got too dicey just Blink out.

I’ve mainly been avoiding 1v1 confrontations and usually +1 a fight and try to shut people down so that other people can defeat their enemy and move on to a point with me.

I usually play with a Revenant buddy now so I’m usually trailing behind him and helping him achieve his full burst.

If that’s what you’re doing and not going for the 1v1s then have you considered dropping some of your damage for more support and just relying on chaotic interruption to soft CC someone down for your Rev buddy? I suggest that because power mesmer really isn’t in a good spot for WvW atm and with no stealth they can train you down extremely easily.

Or better yet just burst shatter with CC for co-ordinated burst?

The real problem is you’ll have trouble interrupting guards, eternal champion warriors, scrappers, thieves and retribution revs. These classes will also have an advantage against you by either procing healing or buffs off clones or simply cleaving out your clones except maybe the rev if only because your clones will reduce the damage from his high damage skills.

Another option is go condition mesmer and pick mistrust instead of domination, would also give you some blinds and vigor for defence.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAreWn0nB1ohlfCuqBcrhlTjqOav2tlMAWggqMDauoD-TVCIQBw7EAgMzPA4QAAO9Bz6JAgO1fmoSQ8p8rF7PQKAIWDA-w

If I went Condition Interrupt this is what it would most likely look like at the moment. I usually play solo so I’m still getting used to trying to actually support someone.
I’m trying to keep domination so I can apply Vulnerability and Weakness, while also keeping the boon-strip.

I have some legendary weapons and Backpiece so I’ll have ascended varients of those but for armor and accessories, I’ll have to craft those as exotics for the time being.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAsdRl0nha0YVawANwtGLnGkZL22NKzQzTAZAWQQB-TVSBQBQR53CfAANw8zEPDAkUJIAOEA8b/h7pP4fq/QKAvGDA-w

I think I would try this for the a power support, or just boonshare for a zerg if that ever happens.

Very interested in this thread. I quit GW2 over a year ago and only recently came back, but back in the day I used to run a Staff + Sword/Sword Dom/Duel/Chaos lock-down Mesmer, also specialising in interrupts and preventing the enemy from having a fair fight, but probably more close-combat focussed then yours as you run GS.

It did suffer the same drawbacks as RossBiddle mentioned (vulnerable to conditions due to limited cleansing and you had to get in range in order to be effective) and it certainly wasn’t the Meta build back then, nor the most effective, but definitely the one that I enjoyed more. I tend to solo roam, and a lock-down build is generally not something people expect.

I’ve been running the cookie-cutter power GS + Sword/Shield Chrono build since I returned, but this thread has inspired me to dabble again with a more pure lock-down build. I’m just curious to see if I can make it work with Staff as for whatever reason I never liked the game-play that a GS offers.

The problem is that the daze/interrupt traits are spread across Domination, Duelling, Chaos and Chrono. Have to give up something…

Marsares.2053:

Very interested in this thread. I quit GW2 over a year ago and only recently came back, but back in the day I used to run a Staff + Sword/Sword Dom/Duel/Chaos lock-down Mesmer, also specialising in interrupts and preventing the enemy from having a fair fight, but probably more close-combat focussed then yours as you run GS.

It did suffer the same drawbacks as RossBiddle mentioned (vulnerable to conditions due to limited cleansing and you had to get in range in order to be effective) and it certainly wasn’t the Meta build back then, nor the most effective, but definitely the one that I enjoyed more. I tend to solo roam, and a lock-down build is generally not something people expect.

I’ve been running the cookie-cutter power GS + Sword/Shield Chrono build since I returned, but this thread has inspired me to dabble again with a more pure lock-down build. I’m just curious to see if I can make it work with Staff as for whatever reason I never liked the game-play that a GS offers.

The problem is that the daze/interrupt traits are spread across Domination, Duelling, Chaos and Chrono. Have to give up something…

The complications with running lockdown these days are even WORSE than ever before. Not only is there a ridiculous amount of stability, but the number of stun breaks is cray cray. Then you have class specific things such as thief dodge removes imob (and they have three of them now), and resistance ignores all conditions (so you go to the effort of getting an interrupt and all a war/rev/whoever has to do is proc some resistance to ignore).

Anet has utterly destroyed rupt/lockdown viability in their thoughtless power dump of elite specs. I won’t touch it now, and I used to run it ALL the time.

@Marsares
I did go to the effort of creating a boonstrip/lockdown build running staff in diamond during S3 PvP. I ran Chaos, but not for CI, instead taking stabos on shatter. Anyway, it was a team fight build, I’d use Csplit to double up on nullfield and Gwell with your chaos storm, shattering to strip out any stabos etc and dump my kitten on whatever got caught in the chaos. But you save your next null field for your condi cleanse. You play at range, avoiding being targeted, only stepping in to relieve a bit of pressure for a bit if someone has to step off the point.

@RossBiddle Thank you. That is utterly discouraging, but also explains why I’ve had so little success with my previous build, to the point of a few nerd-rages. :-)

I think one of your builds was actually the inspiration for my version of LockDown back in the day, it’s what I enjoyed playing most, but seems that in the current Meta I’ll have to look for something else.

Such a shame though, there are a lot of interrupt related traits dotted across four trait lines, it should be an integral part of any Mesmer build and a LockDown build should be a good option. Guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens with the pending class balance changes and if that will allow a return to a LockDown build.

Edit: been running the pre-HoT Duel/Dom/Chaos Staff + Sword/Sword Mantra Lockdown spec to surprising good effect. Granted, it was in unranked PvP and most opposition was pretty bad and it’ll probably fall apart against good players, but it was still better than I thought it was. A glimmer of hope. :-)

Marsares.2053:

@RossBiddle Thank you. That is utterly discouraging, but also explains why I’ve had so little success with my previous build, to the point of a few nerd-rages. :-)

I think one of your builds was actually the inspiration for my version of LockDown back in the day, it’s what I enjoyed playing most, but seems that in the current Meta I’ll have to look for something else.

Such a shame though, there are a lot of interrupt related traits dotted across four trait lines, it should be an integral part of any Mesmer build and a LockDown build should be a good option. Guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens with the pending class balance changes and if that will allow a return to a LockDown build.

Edit: been running the pre-HoT Duel/Dom/Chaos Staff + Sword/Sword Mantra Lockdown spec to surprising good effect. Granted, it was in unranked PvP and most opposition was pretty bad and it’ll probably fall apart against good players, but it was still better than I thought it was. A glimmer of hope. :-)

You’ll probably find it’s not so much the players, and more the elite specs. So if you played ranked and faced meta builds, the inherent qualities introduced with HoT are what’s shutting lockdown play out of the game, and they won’t even have to be skilled to do it. Which is why Anet won’t be able to “fix” it.

It’s a shame but, ohwell.

Ross Biddle.2367:

You’ll probably find it’s not so much the players, and more the elite specs. So if you played ranked and faced meta builds, the inherent qualities introduced with HoT are what’s shutting lockdown play out of the game, and they won’t even have to be skilled to do it. Which is why Anet won’t be able to “fix” it.

It’s a shame but, ohwell.

Makes sense, thanks for clarifying. It does feel a bit that in their desperation to shift as many HoT boxes as possible, they’ve thrown the kitchen-sink at it and made the elite specs almost mandatory. Will persist a bit more with the LockDown build in various different settings and see how it goes.

Marsares.2053:

Ross Biddle.2367:

You’ll probably find it’s not so much the players, and more the elite specs. So if you played ranked and faced meta builds, the inherent qualities introduced with HoT are what’s shutting lockdown play out of the game, and they won’t even have to be skilled to do it. Which is why Anet won’t be able to “fix” it.

It’s a shame but, ohwell.

Makes sense, thanks for clarifying. It does feel a bit that in their desperation to shift as many HoT boxes as possible, they’ve thrown the kitchen-sink at it and made the elite specs almost mandatory. Will persist a bit more with the LockDown build in various different settings and see how it goes.

When I shifted the focus off “lockdown” and onto “boonstrip” I had a heck of a lot more success with it. But I lost the strength of the roaming duelist in favor of the team fighter.

So like, if you went with something like this
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAW7encfCNqhlpBmqBEgilTjycHGibgMAWglrOav2tF-TpQhABRWGAg9HAA
And fought from the sidelines, building up clones and sending them into a chaos storm, null field, G-well combo, you can provide some major team destruction. Save your second null field for if you get condi bombed.

But you can swap around chaos for inspiration, change ammy’s depending, and rune too. CI is only good for the might stacking. BD gives you that stabos. Illusions is for maim and more shattering.

So Ross, what build/builds are you running lately?

PS: killshot mes is not a valid answer ;-D

trooper.2650:

So Ross, what build/builds are you running lately?

PS: killshot mes is not a valid answer ;-D

For S3 I started running Phantlock. That did ok early on but met frustration as I climbed. After that I dabbled with the meta build on occasion, but mostly tried running anti meta stuff. There was a ton of experimentation, nothing I can really put my finger on. Mostly I run power war with GS/Rifle, and ive been working through tons of variations. In the end I actually ran vanilla war, an old Ultimate Killshot War (no defence line, pure murder death kill), though I chop and change trait lines all the time now (currently arms, defence, disc). Now with unranked the only place to play (and by play I mean enter the full kitten mode circuit) I’ve also been running my old venomshare daredevil.

Despite bagging it, my preferred mesmer play is some sort of rupt/lockdown. I don’t bother with the frills though (CI, phantasms, power block) and instead tend to run Mental lockdown (mental anguish to burst while under stuns). I’ve always preferred roaming DPS rolls in PvP (thus kshot wars and power mes). The reason it’s tenable is because in terms of lockdown it’s base. Sure they have stun breaks, and stabos cropping ALL THE TIME, but all you have to do is slip in your shatter burst combo under an instant MoD stun for maximum damage. So you can choose when that happens, and they have very little if any time to react (assuming they dont see you coming from a mile away). The post HoT sustain though makes for a pointless effort, most of the time.

Mostly I tend to stay away from mes these days. Either it’s play the boring meta chrono setup (which is to easily countered now by various classes/builds) or play some sub optimal variant that has other inherent problems. I’d rather just rek kitten on warrior. At least it’s fun.

@RossBiddle in spite of bagging it, what would you say would be the best solo roam interrupt / lockdown Mesmer in the current Meta? Granted, I appreciate that it will sub par and infuriating but I am also generally anti-Meta and am keen to give it a go.

my fun build of the moment is this:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQRAsa7OncfCFphlpBOqhlcjq+Vr1btMAStWD92KpdD-TpRAAB7XGgjDCQP7PQxJAAgHAgHHBAA

nothing completely new, but at least it ain’t the meta.
I also tried it with no torment but faster phant attack rate. You can get up to 20/25 bleed stacks in few seconds. People don’t notice it for some reasons, and they end up dead after a very short fight.
Using MotD, the average is 10-14ish and torment on top of it. Still deadly

I am aware of some duelist’s discipline bug. There was a post somewhere. Nevertheless I still find it fun, and I like running it now in the actual unranked time frame.

Marsares.2053:

@RossBiddle in spite of bagging it, what would you say would be the best solo roam interrupt / lockdown Mesmer in the current Meta? Granted, I appreciate that it will sub par and infuriating but I am also generally anti-Meta and am keen to give it a go.

Just run some form of optimized power shatter with mental anguish and MoD.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAseRncfCNqhlpB2oBMrhlTjqeav2t9sKiirjMAWglD-T5ABAByXGAgjAQR7PAA
If you want to drop Inspiration for either dueling, chaos, or illusions, (probably in that order) you could swap things up a little like this.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAseRncfCNqhlpB2oBMrhlTjiMAWglrcEauEoeav2tF-T5ABABAcEAKrMQ/7PAA
But stick to soft targets, and +1’ing. Rotate, rotate, rotate.

If you want to try your hand at being a pro interrupt duelist, you could always run something super offensive like this
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQRAsa7cl0nhG1YZawGNwsGLnGU5IaeCQ3eS7CZAWQQB-TJBCQB7b/BAcCAGwBBwhlBAA
But you’ll have to know your tools, how to use them, kite, and wear the tougher opponents down (if you so choose to engage them). You can also go the chrono route just because, you know, chrono is our op elite spec
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQRAsa7cl0nhG1YZawGNwsGLnGV5I0cJQ90etbLZAsABFA-TJBCQBD4gAAgTAgDLDsv9HAA

In Unranked you should be able to run pretty much everything if you’ve put the time in to learn your mesmering.

trooper.2650:

my fun build of the moment is this:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQRAsa7OncfCFphlpBOqhlcjq+Vr1btMAStWD92KpdD-TpRAAB7XGgjDCQP7PQxJAAgHAgHHBAA

nothing completely new, but at least it ain’t the meta.
I also tried it with no torment but faster phant attack rate. You can get up to 20/25 bleed stacks in few seconds. People don’t notice it for some reasons, and they end up dead after a very short fight.
Using MotD, the average is 10-14ish and torment on top of it. Still deadly

I am aware of some duelist’s discipline bug. There was a post somewhere. Nevertheless I still find it fun, and I like running it now in the actual unranked time frame.

Oh yeah, so a mistrust build can really pay off when the planets align and the enemy team is constantly running into tight group situations (usually over downed enemies/allies) and all those interrupts land, particularly in a chain. It falls apart when your team can’t perform properly, and you find yourself pressured of on your own.

So went to the effort of actually running the mistrust concept I was talking about and found positive results.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAreWncfC9filpBmqBEgilZjycEWhPo+W/1htMAqtcD-TpxCAByXG44TAAAPAAJOCAUt/QFHCAA

Ross Biddle.2367:

So went to the effort of actually running the mistrust concept I was talking about and found positive results.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAreWncfC9filpBmqBEgilZjycEWhPo+W/1htMAqtcD-TpxCAByXG44TAAAPAAJOCAUt/QFHCAA

Here we go

I swapped out illusionary reversion improves alacrity. I want to keep my aoe CC coming off cd over and over as much as possible, and hitting those team fights. Incidentally, in unranked the fight is ALWAYS over all three points, so sometimes its hard to find a good thick swab of enemies to go to town on XD

Some interesting ideas there. Thanks, RossBiddle.

Currently I’m running my old-school build in unranked, mostly because it’s what I’m used to and I’ve been out of the game for over a year, so seemed a sensible starting point to get my skills up again on something I’m familiar with before I try something new:

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQRAsa7cl0nhG1YZawGNwsGLnGV5I0cJQ90etbLZAsABFA-TJBCQBD4gAAgTAgDLDsv9HAA

It’s pretty purist in it’s setup and tries to maximise the interrupts. However, I do feel I miss out on the Chrono trait. There’s not much interrupt in that trait line, but the Alarcity seems just too good to miss out on. Also debating about swapping out off-hand pistol for shield if I go down the Chrono route.

The more I play the more disillusioned I get to be honest. Yes, a lot of the builds can work in unranked or wvw roaming as most people aren’t that good, but in general it just breaks down against better players. In order to be competitive you’re basically pigeon-holed into one or two builds, neither of them which I really like.

Starting to think my return to GW2 may be short-lived. PvP is in worse state than when I left to be honest.

Marsares.2053:

Some interesting ideas there. Thanks, RossBiddle.

Currently I’m running my old-school build in unranked, mostly because it’s what I’m used to and I’ve been out of the game for over a year, so seemed a sensible starting point to get my skills up again on something I’m familiar with before I try something new:

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQRAsa7cl0nhG1YZawGNwsGLnGV5I0cJQ90etbLZAsABFA-TJBCQBD4gAAgTAgDLDsv9HAA

It’s pretty purist in it’s setup and tries to maximise the interrupts. However, I do feel I miss out on the Chrono trait. There’s not much interrupt in that trait line, but the Alarcity seems just too good to miss out on. Also debating about swapping out off-hand pistol for shield if I go down the Chrono route.

The more I play the more disillusioned I get to be honest. Yes, a lot of the builds can work in unranked or wvw roaming as most people aren’t that good, but in general it just breaks down against better players. In order to be competitive you’re basically pigeon-holed into one or two builds, neither of them which I really like.

Starting to think my return to GW2 may be short-lived. PvP is in worse state than when I left to be honest.

Yup, you’re not wrong.

The only reason to take pistol over shield is that pistol provides that ranged, single target DPS phantasm. The problems with him is he has a high hit rate, meaning retaliation eats him alive. He’s projectile based, and the hate is real. And in terms of stun/interrupt shield is simply better. It’s AoE, hits twice, and you’re afforded the defensive qualities of shield.

Also, while I don’t necessarily put much stock in CI, one thing you do get from it is the might stacks. Meaning when you take one of those hybrid ammy’s, your power and condi damage is going to shoot straight up once those interrupts land along with all your condi’s and hits. You can feel the lackluster effect of a hybrid ammy’s without the presence of that might to bump it up.