Guild Wars 2

Hi fellow Mesmer here love the class , i have done alot of reach and i been playing particularly with support here and now that i have enough gold i want to fit myself a nice dps gear, now to the question , which dps build is consider a top quality build ? i know every spec is viable blah blah i know lol no punt intended there, but i have hear about the shatter build, condition build , condition (bleed focus) build, and lastly the Mantra build. Now just want and input of fellow Mesmer which one would be idea for dmg ?? i can play any style i just dont have the gold to fund 2 or 3 set at the same time so need a little help before making the decision thank you in advance.

Ps. i hear that mantra dps oriented build beat out the other is that true ?

Mantra build’s dps is arguably best we can squeeze from our traits, but in exchange of little freedom of utility skills. Means, if you need feedback, you lose damage. Same goes with blink or decoy.
In pve, specially dungeons, that’s pain.

Mantra dps build can be very strong. It is somewhat rigid. All the mantras have their use, but unless also traited for mantra healing, they don’t provide much team support. In a mantra damage build you generally want to keep mantras charged and use only when needed, in the healing build you want to spam them.

As a solo pve build I find it fun, and in wvw it’s not bad. All it lacks is flexibility I terms of which utilities you bring. If the damage is worth it to you, you’ll have fun.

take a look at the “Legion” build, I find it pretty good and gives you complete freedom on choosing utility skills

I’ve tried that, but for most pve situations I don’t get it. In wvw it felt ok.

But with a damage build (not glass cannon gear) normal mobs take auto attack > mirror blade > phantasm > clone > shatter or auto attack > mirror blade > mind stab – MoP > clone clone shatter. Single targets are mostly down before mirror blade recharges, or when you hit them with it. Group take longer of course, but phantasms die with target so getting out three is dicey anyways.

When I used that build it frustrated me that two traits buff phantasm damage by 30%, vs mantra build where two traits conditionally buff all damage by 25%. (I dont think it affects illusions but I dont know.) What am I missing about the legion build that makes it better than I thought?

well i think it’s a mater of taste here, i really like the phantasm focused gameplay…

also when fighting mobs you have to get your hands dirty, what i do is:

mirror blade> iBerserker> mind stab> swap to sword/pistol (at this point clone from MB is probably dead)> iDuelist> clone/swap> and proceed to do some melee damage

most orr mobs die at the end of that chain, if not, swap to GS and start over, Legion shines the most in dungeons, in most boss fights is quite easy to get your 3 iDuelists up

also for killing mobs iWarden makes wonders

I think you’re right. Matter of taste. I see the usefulness on world bosses and dungeons. I’m not convinced it does more damage even in that scenario, but the game is about fun, not number crunching.