Guild Wars 2

I’ve been running a shatter build for awhile, and thought I’d like to try something different. Is anyone having success either in pave or pvp with a stealth build?

Effective stealth build?..
Your options for stealth are Torch;The prestige and Decoy….
I think Veil is pretty buggy atm..
You could also run mass invis? I guess? ..

I love torch/decoy in tpvp.. works great for me.
Not sure what you’re looking for though..

Was thinking dd build pop in do bunch of dmg stealth to escape and hit me again. Will probably have to try it in spvp to see if useful was thinking veil decoy and torch. Moa not mass. Not sure how effective it would be but could be fun and something different, was just wondering if anyone here had tried something similar

Maybe with extended duration on glamours for multiple stealthy on veil? Like I said haven’t triedityet

There is a grad master trait that gives +1 second to invisibility duration. The Illusions 5 trait will reduce cool down on Decoy, a trait in Duelling will give a free Decoy when at 25% health I believe, and reduced cool downs on the Torch will reduce to cool down on The Prestige.

I would also suggest using Blink, as short range teleportation can be just as good as invisibility at times.

I don’t think a short duration stealth on a long cool down will help. Especially if it has a long cast time (mass invis), or it leaves an obvious indication as to where you are (Vale). Not to say those are bad abilities, they are pretty nice… but the idea of building around them wouldn’t really work I think.

You don’t really get any benefits for coming out of stealth, and the durations are short enough that you’ll probably just get attacked (by players at least) while you are invisible (since they have a good idea of where you are)… having such a slow run speed doesn’t help at all.

I don’t think it would be very good idea to build around stealth as a Mesmer, but incorporating a bit into your build and play style would be fine.

I’ve tried a stealth build before but…
- Viel was too buggy
- the 25% cloak was too hard to control/predict and I’d often just hit a skill and break it
- Decoy sometimes bugs out too
- Torch works but after playing around with it, it doesn’t deal enough damage to drop pistol
- getting the trait for +1s stealth doesn’t work well with my build
- also getting decoy and viel means you only have 1 more utility skill… mirror images is a must so you lose blink which > viel imo

My build does use stealth alot but it’s not a “complete” stealth build as you might call it. It’s a shatter build with decoy and mass invisibility.

I do use a stealth build that has Prismatic Understanding (+1s to stealth) and all four stealth skills, although it’s for fun and likely not optimal (specifically Veil I don’t feel is worth it).

It’s a condition damage build, so my primary weapon is Staff; because of this my secondary weapon set is for defense/support only, so the offensive power of the Pistol and OH Sword is not relevant.

Veil never fails for me, and it can give me 10 seconds of stealth by running over it again after the first stealth expires (though you have to be quick as the Veil expires soon after); so it is good if you need to hide for a while but still isn’t worth the 90s CD IMO.

Decoy only fails if you have an attack in transit and it hits while you’re in stealth, for example Winds of Chaos’s bounce. To prevent this just ensure you haven’t fired off an attack within a second or two before you use it.

For my other utility skill I use Mantra of Resolve for condition removal. If I want to optimise my build I’d replace Veil with Blink.

I’m not sure what you’re using it/want to use it for, spvp tpvp bvbvb?
If you’re using it in spvp bvb you can probably run whatever..

I don’t think there’s an effective build that’s built around stealth for Tpvp, because your job is to Kill ,Cap Points, Support, Hold Points SecondaryObjective. There are no other jobs I can think of that are possible, Stealth does none of these really.

As I said before, Decoy and Torch Prestige is really strong.. but building around them sounds like a waste of time, might as well roll a thief pick up shadow refuge and be done with it.

I use stealth to hold points (I know silly right?)your point has a chance to decap under you, but an alive glasscannon mesmer is alot better then a dead/down glasscannon mesmer.

I used to run Sword/pistol Greatsword, but the greatsword is currently nerfed and hits like a wet towel, where on the other hand the torch hits like a truck and gives sweet things like retaliation confusion and invisibility. Sword/pistol Sword/torch gives me great dps and surviveability some crowd control.

Some people have put up the critique that using two mainhand swords is “crippling yourself due to shared cooldowns” but the sword’s maximum cooldown is 8 seconds so I have no idea what they’re talking about…

Also running Tuna Morph over timewarp, is the sign of a truly skilled mesmer, just saying.

My shatter build is about as close to a stealth build as you’ll get without getting the 1s duration trait, desperate decoy (unpredictable trait), and running veil (trash utility unless you’re stealthing a very large number of people). I run torch oh w/ cd reduction, decoy, and mass invis. I can actually do pretty well at keeping supply camps from being capped by zergs with clever use of stealth, distortion, frenzy, dodge, and blink. My record so far is around 15 minutes but they were horrid players.

The prestige actually works pretty well for me in wvw just because the extra aoe dmg + aoe burn is usually enough to make the difference between a dead bunker and one skulking away at 5-10% health casting a heal. Not to mention it helps support my aggressive playstyle… charging into 30+ can be tricky w/o stealth sometimes.

Anyways, the build is 20 20 0 0 30 with standard shatter traits + torch cd reduction.