Guild Wars 2

Hi all,

I’m new to GW2 and have been playing and leveling as Mesmer for a few weeks.

I’ve just reached 40 and am now wondering how to proceed.

Having just reached 40, my gear is only about as good as the karma vendors sell, my traits and skills I just choose the best I can with my limited knowledge (so far!)

I don’t really understand amour types yet, or sigils, etc -so I guess I’m not a brilliantly optimised Mesmer at the mo’

I think I’ve developed a good skill rotation for the class and know when/what clones to deploy, etc and I’m pretty good at surviving against the odds sometimes

However, it still seems to take me 2 or 3 times longer to take down enemies (when I watch other classes leveling in the same area) and it’s becoming a bit of a grind….

Couple this with the recent ‘nerf’, I’m wondering if it’s worth progressing, or maybe cutting my losses and switching to a different class….

Any thoughts?

I have a similar post (I’m 49) here https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/LF-feedback-on-lower-level-build/first

Reddit also has some decent mesmer threads, though with the changes on the 30th, some of the condition stuff won’t be up to date.

Look there for stat/armor suggestions. Staff is a great defensive weapon and it looks like 1h sword + pistol is a good combo for your alt set. 2 handed sword is a good replacement for either depending on if you feel you need the defense of staff or not. I would think if you run staff/2h that you would probably be in the same boat you’re in now, burst wise. One thing to note is that if you’re 40, you can get clone on dodge (dueling major trait X) which is awesome and pretty much (from what I can tell) required across the board.

Overall I’d say that we don’t have the burst that some classes do, so from my experience, some DE’s I’ll see folks bursting down mobs before I can do anything, others I’m in the thick of it with everyone else, just depends upon the skill of the players around me. On the other hand, we have a lot of tools at our disposal, and I’d rather be alive after facing 6+ mobs and take a minute longer than kill 4 of them quickly before dying.

I leveled a Thief and Guardian before I leveled my Mesmer. Mesmer was painful compared to the other classes, until level 60. Push through it and it gets better.

At 40 you have access to Deceptive Evasion trait that brings shatter builds online. Throw out your clones, Cry of Frustration, Throw more out, Mind Wrack, pop your Phantasms and swing some swords around. Try not to shatter your Phantasms as they’ll do some good damage.

Alternatively you can get Greatsword Training and Blade Training and work with your Phantasms to more effect. Take Signet of Illusions utility skill. Start with GSword at range, do some direct damage and get the mob’s attention. Make sure its headed to you, then pop the iZerker, switch to swords n pop iSwordsman and let the mob come to you, swing your swords n let the phantasms do some good damage. Try to keep the mobs attention on you so it doesn’t kill your phantasms. Your offhand sword block does good damage also, use it

After 60 both builds really improve and by 80 its a whole different class, very trait dependent.

GL
Blood~

Welcome to the game!

I can’t speak to leveling, (I crafted my way through the difficult times), but we’ve seen a lot of people express difficulty in leveling a Mesmer. I promise the upper levels are well worth the struggle.

So far as making sure this is the class for you, Mesmer has a steep learning curve. It’s a difficult class to master, but as you hone your skills, you’ll never have a dull fight. We bring a lot of utilities to the table and we have a lot of viable builds. It just takes a bit to wrap your head around everything.

If you like a fast pace and clever tactics, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed by sticking with it.

The main problem is your gear go to the tp and get all strong weapons and armor and vig trinkets..Traits dont really matter as much as people think while leveling but going 20 into the crit line and 10 in the health line would help you the most at 40.You could also get a sigil of perception for more crits for more bleeds by your clones and even with no condi damage gear it helps more than people think while leveling.

i leveled every class to 80 and imo mesmer is the strongest and easiest you just need to get use to dodging and there is nothing you cant beat.i had a nice 10 minute solo fight against the champ ogre in blazeridge yesterday and even with all the adds there wasnt a moment when i went under half .I was level 43 at that time.

At level 40, I recommend starting to get use to clone generation through dodging and shatters.

I would spec 20 points into dueling for (IV) Blade Training and (X) Deceptive Evasion and 10 points in illusion (III) Compounding Power.

Your goal is to get clones and phantasms up as fast as possible and shatter as often as possible. A good way to initiate a fight is Greatsword 4 Phantasm, Greatsword 2, dodge, f1. Swap weapon, (assuming sword / pistol ) Pistol 4, dodge, sword 3, sword 3 (for swap), sword 2 (invulnerability), f2 or f3, retreat and restart.

This is a great video by Osicat which shows some different shatter setups.

Another thing that helped me, Osicat said in another post that you should think about your damage as coming in waves every ten second. Burst, back off, Burst, back off …

Don’t worry to much about killing things fast. Have fun with your fights, really really try to immerse yourself into your class, and take every creature you kill as practice to learn what you want to do end game.

Also here is a list of gear so you can understand prefix corrilation to stats: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Equipment_acquisition_by_stats

Now as for actually killing things fast… that dosen’t happen till later, although you can run damage gear to make this go faster. (see berzerker) But you can out play things other players around your level would have a harder time doing, do to the other classes not having the same tools we do. <3

At first it struggles to learn to out play a creatrue but then it grows into being able to take on a bunch of mobs.

I suggest as TooBz suggested get your 20 in dueling and grab Deceptive Evasion. and atleast 5 in illusions for Illusionists clererity (which you’ll get if you go 10 into illusions anyways)

But for the most part I say upgrade your gear, don’t be afraid to use trade post gear at low levels is dirt cheap. and then just build balanced with the rest of your traits (don’t bother with domination unless you see somthing you MUST HAVE!) and go to a high level zone and start soloing mobs 5-10 levels higher than you.

5 levels in an area is enough to move on to the next and you level faster, but take your time to explore too.

And don’t worry about the nerf, it’s confusion which for the most isn’t that great for leveling. Also you’ll learn along the way what you need and don’t need and how to build yourself by the time you hit 80 and finish main story.

Thank you all for your articulate and helpful replies.

Your guidance has certainly helped my motivation to continue and I shall be trying the advice proffered.

Thanks again!