Guild Wars 2

Now that they moved Illusionists Celerity, I find myself having trouble figuring what traits I want to take as a phantasm mesmer in WvW. It seems I have to choose more damage or phantasm health vs decreased cooldowns. Has anyone found a trait setup they like or found comparable to the old builds when Illusionists Celerity was a minor adept trait?

Yes. I’ve been trying out some variants for the build in my Sig after the patch. I’ll be posting and update soon, but basically it stays the same while focusing mire in stealth with PU to cover the additional summon CD. 0/20/30/20/0.

I’m also testing a more offensive variant goes 0/20/20/20/0. I’ll let you know how it compares, but the stealth variant Is very viable so far.

^ that’s basically my build too after patch lol my build is here http://tiny.cc/reimesbuild 0 20 30 20 0 still gonna tweak it but

It’s working great for me it’s hard to kill but does plenty enough damage. I switch between veil/mimic/null field depending on situation, I’ve been running mimic a lot in wvw lately as well as mirror heal bc mirror gives perma swiftness, of course my weapon choice is also just my play style I say you can opt for staff + sword/*

Also the idea is for synergy and focus on stealth + boons, mitigating damage, invulnerable/blocks and defense while not focusing and optimizing on the damage side of things it is dealing good sustained damage via phantasms and shatter when necessary. I’ve got zerker gear and get about 7-10 might stacks during fights

Good for roaming and self-preserving/focused fights, it works well in zerg situations as well and can take on multiple enemies or at least get you out alive!

Yeah, I do! Mostly running with the Zerg and really like it:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgEQNAsdRl0zaoHVzqGbNJhZBnew8ovcSKUdqLfA3A-jkyAEEAyCEJCMBWEN2aWR0YV2YaYioa7timJP1WdAhAKPGA-w

Basicly what I’m running is quite dps/hybrid based with high crit chance, good bleed stacking and great mobility due perm swiftness.

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/mesmer/?4.0|1.1g.h2|c.1g.h1c.a.1o.h8|1o.73.1o.73.1o.73.1o.73.1o.73.1o.73|2s.0.2s.0.3s.0.1c.67.1c.67.2u.0|a3.k2a.u34c.a4.0|30.7|31.34.3d.3b.0|e

Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JO-4WfMBMPU

Thank you all for the replies this far.

@Blackdevil.

I’m intrigued by that hybrid of using rampages and soldiers gear. I haven’t thought about that. It seems to take advantage if the bleeds quite well. I might give it a go later, quit tired of feeling forced into shatter when I’m roaming with a small group.

permaswifness?

QQing.3089:

Thank you all for the replies this far.

@Blackdevil.

I’m intrigued by that hybrid of using rampages and soldiers gear. I haven’t thought about that. It seems to take advantage if the bleeds quite well. I might give it a go later, quit tired of feeling forced into shatter when I’m roaming with a small group.

When roaming in small groups you’ll be most likely forced to do shatter yeah.
I guess boon spreader could also be a bit useful, but not as optimal kittenter would be.

I dunno if I want to depend soley on my low health phantasms for damage verse a zerg. Additionally, combining etheral fields with your phantasms is a nice combo to stack confusion. With the addition of torment and the buff to the scepters condition damage, it might be worth while to (once again) go for a condition bleed/confusion/torment build.

I’m thinking a 20(III,VIII)/20(II,X)/0/30(II,VII,VIII)/0 condition build. Take GS(bleed on crit) + Scepter(condition stacking)/Focus(bleed on crit) and utilities Feedback, Signet of Illusions, and Null Field. Deceptive Evasion is only there because there’s not much else to take with those last 5 points and it will help feed Cry of Frustration and Distortion. With this build, I would try to maximize your condition damage. I think 2200 condition damage is attainable which resolves into 230 damage per confusion stack. That pales to the 400+ dmg per stack we used to do, but it might effective enough if you go for broke.

Post confusion patch I ran a phantasm build. After the latest patch I’m running a standard shatter build. In the end though, mesmer was always strongest in wvw as a condition-based glamour build. Neither pure phantasm or shatter build ever performed as well as glamour condition, which typically includes heavy amounts of reflection.

I just haven’t settled on my build for group play kittenter. I usually switch between 20/20/0/0/30 for shattering with boon striping or the classic 0/20/20/0/30. I’m not dead set on either. Each has its uses to me.

BlackDevil.9268:

When roaming in small groups you’ll be most likely forced to do shatter yeah.
I guess boon spreader could also be a bit useful, but not as optimal kittenter would be.

I think this depends on your group size and makeup. I’ve found the phantasm/boon sharing build I have in my signature to be extremely effective in my groups. I do tons of damage and put out a lot of boons at the same time.

I honestly think the small amount of damage boost I’d get from going shatter wouldn’t really make up for the benefit I bring to my group as phantasm/support.

BlackDevil.9268:

Basicly what I’m running is quite dps/hybrid based with high crit chance, good bleed stacking and great mobility due perm swiftness.

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/mesmer/?4.0|1.1g.h2|c.1g.h1c.a.1o.h8|1o.73.1o.73.1o.73.1o.73.1o.73.1o.73|2s.0.2s.0.3s.0.1c.67.1c.67.2u.0|a3.k2a.u34c.a4.0|30.7|31.34.3d.3b.0|e

Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JO-4WfMBMPU

I been running the same traits,runes and most of the sigils since patch.The only one i dont use is the sigil of purity since i prefer the sigil of generosity.Maybe i learned a little something from your guilds visit to jq.

If the condition build i been gearing for doesnt work out for me i think i will try your idea of using some rampager gear on my current build.i just hate to have low toughness so im using a mix of pvt,knights and berserker atm.

For zergs I have my builds that I use, glamour related most of the time just because you can’t pass up on the utility. Phantasms used to be my go-to roaming build. I should have specified what I was asking help for in my origin post.

You made me reminisce on the good old confusion days