Guild Wars 2

Hey guys, are there any chronos using pistol?? I main my mesmer for 3 years and used to play with pistol before Hot, and I kinda missed it now after almost one year using shield, but on all game modes the shield seems to always be so much better :/
Btw, I play power shatter with gs+sw/sh (I was thinking about only going back to gs+sw/p, no other changes).
What do you guys think? Should I keep using shield or go back to pistol?
Usually I make this decisions easily cuz I never follow the stupid “meta”, but I’m in a huge crisis right now and can’t decide
Oh and also, that would be only for pve, on pvp I still prefer shield.
Thank in advance!

So, PvE meaning open world or meaning fractals/raids? For organised group content, you simply can’t skip the Shield’s Quickness generation (and, to a less extent, Alacrity).

But there’s no reason you can’t go with /P + /Sh for open world stuff instead of the traditional GS + Sw/Sh. You may want to use Scepter as your main-hand if you do, so you have a ranged option. Sc/P + Sw/Sh is probably a good set to use.

Something like this, which I’ve just thrown together without doing much optimisation on: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQRAra8encfClphtfCWoBEgilcjqMAStWr+Vn1bF92KpcA-TxREABPp8DgnAwhKBXU9H53f4N9CEcSAAA-e

(Doing that made me wish Danger Time applied to illusions. It might be less of a trash-tier trait if it did.)

Hmm.. not sure if that would work for me, I really like my gs. I’m really not into raids, so it would be for pve open world stuff and from time to time some low tier fractal (I’m not much into instance group content). If I enjoyed condi builds I wouldn’t even stress about it, and would prob use something like that build above, but I like the quick burst shatter damage that comes with power builds (with zerker, assassin gear etc). And it is exactly because of that alacrity and quickness that Im doubt about going back to pistol (pistol does more dmg, but shield keeps me alive for more time)

If that’s the case, you should just ask yourself a few crucial questions.

“How often does the shield block save my bacon?”
Never-pistol
Often- next question

“Could I use ‘magic bullet’, blurred frenzy, or distort to save it in those cases instead?”
Yes- pistol
No- next question.

“Do I leave enough time for the pistol phantasm to unload before shattering?”
Yes- use pistol.
No-shield.

Jus’ sayin.

That is actually a good way of looking at it. The shield does save my kitten against pocket raptors, smokescales and some cc mobs, but other than that it just prolongs my fights…
So, if i wanted to go back to pistol, do you think it would be a good idea to keep my illusions trait (for shatter stuff) or should I swap it to dueling (for the bleeding)? I’m keeping chrono and domination no matter what.

Shield is always the answer, you can barely afford to skip it if you want to be strong. But you could just throw away the GS. If you face a single enemy, the sword is better and if you need aoe, the focus is the answer.

You can use a pistol in a condi spec though, wich is great for soloing single enemies like Hero Points. It’s even better than power in that aspect, but it has no real aoe capabilities so it’s really only for that single purpose. You can also use it at Meta Events since the dps is fairly high, but so would a staff in a power spec due to the tons of conditions.

To be honest here guys, I really appreciate all the answers and discussion on this topic, but I couldn’t care less for condi builds :/
Shield is indeed very good, and I’m not giving up on it, still using it for pvp, group pve, etc cuz there is no comparison with the others OH when on group stuff. But when I’m on my own playing open world pve it doesn’t help much, it is a good weapon for group support, but it doesn’t have that much damage for solo play (its more like a buff weapon to me, and I already got a lot of buffs going on)…. I’ve been playing on my mesmer for a really long time, and I’m sure I don’t need it to be strong playing solo.
After experimenting a couple of days, I will be going back to my pistol for open world pve (gs+sw/p) and keeping the old way for the rest (gs+sw/sh) cuz at least for me it was a little more effective. What I can’t decide is: should I keep dom/illu/chrono or swap to dom/duel/chrono?? The illusions traits work very well with my shatters, but then the cd of sword/pistol is a little longer.
Before chrono I always used illu/dom/duel… now I have to sacrifice one x.x Anyone got an insight on this? Thanks in advance!

MesmerizingQuaggan.9124:

So, if i wanted to go back to pistol, do you think it would be a good idea to keep my illusions trait (for shatter stuff) or should I swap it to dueling (for the bleeding)? I’m keeping chrono and domination no matter what.

In that case, stick with Illusions. The Bleeding from the Pistol trait really isn’t that much damage unless you’re going for a full-on condi build. More shatters and more phantasms will serve you better.

Here’s a video of a condi pistol mesmer. Worth a shot I’d think. It might not be as efficient as meta but if it’s fun to play and you can find people aren’t such meta zealots, then I don’t see a problem.

That condi Mes is for teamplay though. You can focus more on damage if you are solo.

Pistol certainly works in solo open world play, it’ll just be a lot slower than other options. Basically the problem is that the duelist is single target, and a phantasm is far more damage investment for most single random mobs than they actually need. Compare that to shield where the wall will cleave through all the mobs you’re fighting, and the phantasm has a (weak) aoe hit.

The pistol certainly is not the “best” option out there (is not part of the current hur dur meta, which I never follow)… But it is a fun weapon, sure I can’t aoe 10 mobs and kill them in 2 seconds, but sometimes, not everything is about the biggest damage, to me playing gw2 (or any game, really) is all about me having fun! And pistol is fun, with the pew pew phantasm and me having to dodge more often…. I do like the shield, its a cool weapon to play with, but after almost one year I kinda missed some playstyles other than block → block→ skill #5 → repeat.
All these answers make me wonder what will happen to 90% of the mesmers once the next spec comes out hahaha everyone now is all about that shield XD

MesmerizingQuaggan.9124:

The pistol certainly is not the “best” option out there (is not part of the current hur dur meta, which I never follow)… But it is a fun weapon, sure I can’t aoe 10 mobs and kill them in 2 seconds, but sometimes, not everything is about the biggest damage, to me playing gw2 (or any game, really) is all about me having fun! And pistol is fun, with the pew pew phantasm and me having to dodge more often…. I do like the shield, its a cool weapon to play with, but after almost one year I kinda missed some playstyles other than block -> block-> skill #5 -> repeat.
All these answers make me wonder what will happen to 90% of the mesmers once the next spec comes out hahaha everyone now is all about that shield XD

They will adapt, or they won’t play the new spec. Hopefully the new elite specs won’t blow away chrono like chrono blows away base mesmer in most situations. But really look at why so many chronos run shield. It just blows everything else away. 2 blocks on short cooldowns, an interrupt that can proc unlimited times as long as it keeps hitting hitboxes, as well as just absorbing all projectiles in front of it, as well as granting some quickness. Its honestly an extremely overpowered offhand weapon, but if our other offhand weapons were buffed up to similar utility then it wouldn’t be nearly as dominant as it is.

Focus is nearly on the same level in my opinion, Warden’s Feedback would just need to be baseline (as well as have an additional trait for focus), but its still just blown away by shield.

Yeah, Shield is great for two reasons: Alacrity and Quickness in organised PvE, and Blocks and projectile destruction for PvP/WvW and open world. It’ll be tough to find a new mechanic or weapon that completely outpaces it in all game modes. But it’s entirely possible that a new elite spec could bring a mechanic or weapon that equals or betters the Shield in some situations. And, indeed, that’s exactly what I’d hope for out of a second elite spec.

I’ve been doing some tests these past days, and from what I’ve seen pistol is not that bad, I have a decent damage and I’m killing enemies faster then I did with shield (single targets mostly, but when there is some mobs around usually sword skill #2 and shatters does the job) its not really an utility OH but it is an ok weapon and I’m having fun with it… Of course for pvp and fractal I swap back to shield (for the group support) but for me going solo its been good so far!! Only problem I’ve been having are those pocket raptors and smokescales…..
Quartely patch is close, I really hope we get some weapon buffs this time.

No offence OP but it sounds like you’ve already made up your mind irrespective of what other people say. It also seems like you’re trying too hard to not be meta that you’re throwing reason, logic and any kind of sensible thinking out of the window just to be unique.

I’ve been clocking a lot of time in WvW on core mesmer vs chrono and all I can say is shield blows the socks off everything that isn’t used for stealth. I’ve tried to find an off hand that will let me get nice interrupts for power block with some defence but there isn’t one unless you’re against a projectile only player. Even then it just doesn’t measure up to shield.

For solo PvE I just skip any mob I don’t have to kill with torch. For story instances shield has only one rival imo, focus even then why not use both?

apharma.3741:

No offence OP but it sounds like you’ve already made up your mind irrespective of what other people say. It also seems like you’re trying too hard to not be meta that you’re throwing reason, logic and any kind of sensible thinking out of the window just to be unique.

I’ve been clocking a lot of time in WvW on core mesmer vs chrono and all I can say is shield blows the socks off everything that isn’t used for stealth. I’ve tried to find an off hand that will let me get nice interrupts for power block with some defence but there isn’t one unless you’re against a projectile only player. Even then it just doesn’t measure up to shield.

For solo PvE I just skip any mob I don’t have to kill with torch. For story instances shield has only one rival imo, focus even then why not use both?

No offence taken. When I made this post I wan’t sure about it, and some of this answers really did help me (and yes, now I’ve already made up my mind). I’m not trying to be a special snowflake if thats what you are thinking, truth is I just got tired of shield playstyle for pve and wanted to try chrono with my old playstyle (which I liked a lot, but wasnt sure it would work). Since people kept posting I just thought it would be polite to keep answering since I started this and to show sometimes we can dare to try other stuff other then meta….. And our playstyles are a lot different from what I can tell, in 3 years I did wvw like 5 times and didnt stay there even two hours… And I dont like skipping mobs in pve, if I did that I would be better off playing thief.

I also find shield very (yes I had to emphasise that) boring but it’s objectively our best offhand in every game mode.

Either it needs to be brought down to the level of other offhands or all other offhands need buffs including active phantasm cast component (of which other people have suggested better ideas in other threads so mine are just placeholders…).

Torch: Prestige is fine but iMage could be changed to aoe pulse. Add an active player effect on cast such as aoe chill burst (because mesmer) and cleanse a condition or something followed by iMage executing aoe burn and fury pulse to allies.

Focus: Curtain should change to destroy projectiles untraited. iWarden could pulse some buff to allies in the attack bubble radius while it attacks – eg protection. Active cast component could be aoe 1s reflect (ally support) or something else (better suggestions from other people in other threads).

Sword: The only thing it has going for it is the low cooldowns. Shield totally outclasses it otherwise. Block could be changed to proc daze on block as well as counter. Swordsman could be changed to rapid multi hit (like spear phantasm underwater – more synergy with something like sharper images) and active cast could be player leap to enemy dealing damage (with option to “swap” back to initial position like infiltrator’s strike) after which phantasm spawns and leaps. Cooldowns can be increased appropriately.

Pistol: As has been said big downside is single target which is a pain with pve trash mobs and outnumbered wvw/pvp and magic bullet being neutralised by the amount of blocks/evades/anticc/etc out there. Also of note is how you can throw Tides of Time behind you when running in another direction but Magic Bullet requires player to be facing the target. Perhaps Tides of Time should be nerfed so as to only throw in the direction of the player character. If not then I’d say you should be allowed to fire magic bullet out of your kitten – it is a “magic” bullet kitten .
Regarding iDuelist – it’s shots could have a 20% chance to bounce to an additional target. Or each hit on a target could proc aoe damage around that target (very small aoe) as the bullets explode. The active cast component could involve the mesmer firing three shots all of which explode on target and deal aoe debuff such as vulnerability (ready for the duelist to follow up with its unload). I believe Pistol should be a 100% offensive weapon, it just needs some aoe component and quality of life to help it.

But currently unless you’re chipping away at a bullet sponge (world boss or instance boss) with millions of hp, Pistol sadly isn’t good enough.