Guild Wars 2

For the most part people use rabid gear (prec/tough/cond) for Mesmer condition builds.

But there are ascended rings, amulet, and accessories that have the stats tough/vit/cond.

Would these be viable? I realize precision would be lost, and some potential bleeding stacks would be lost as a result. But gaining a few thousand hit points may be worth it no? They do however have a small amount of precision.

I mostly enjoy dropping confusion stacks on people, in which case precision isn’t as important. So I’m thinking about picking up a set of these stats for my trinkets.

Is anyone out there using these on their Mesmer?

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Symbol_of_the_Deceiver
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Ralena%27s_Band
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Vassar%27s_Band
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Plague_Idol
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Matriarch%27s_Quill

First of all, full rabid isnt really what you should get for a confusion build. A mix between that & carrion would be the best. As you stated you want to use it for a confusion build, whereas chaos armor is at a lot cases almost the main confusion spreader. So yeah, I’d say it’s pretty OP and def. worth taking.

BlackDevil.9268:

First of all, full rabid isnt really what you should get for a confusion build. A mix between that & carrion would be the best. As you stated you want to use it for a confusion build, whereas chaos armor is at a lot cases almost the main confusion spreader. So yeah, I’d say it’s pretty OP and def. worth taking.

Alright, thanks for the input

Rabid is only better if you have on crit abilities… otherwise vit/tough/cond gear will serve you better. The vit/tough will translate into higher survival and higher cond dmg with tuning crystals.

On a side note, if you’re thinking about upgrading your character to ascended, I would wait until the next patch to come out first. They may do something unexpected and nerf/bug out your mes.

Precision is for the on crit abilities, such as weapon sigils or armor runes as said before.

That said I often wonder if people mistake “confusion build” to mean “glamour mesmer” in every sense. In my case I don’t use any glamours, instead I spend my time bombing at close range, solo, in the middle of enemy zergs and the like. For me full toughness is more important than a few thousand more hit points. Why? Because direct damage mitigation does more in the short term. Those hit points will melt away from the power hits. HP’s will fend off the conditions, but I can already manage those as well as fending them off with removal.

It all depends on your build and what you’re doing on the field. I ran full carrion when I started (over 22k hp’s), and when I got around to changing over to rabid my survivability went way up (15-16k hp’s)

We actually mentioned that particular trait distribution in our theorycrafting podcast.

As far as absolute points go, rabid is strictly better for condition damage as toughness scales higher with tuning crystals, scales from undead runes, and scales from chaos 25 (not applicable for a glamour build obviously).

That being said, carrion is also a very useful stat distribution, providing hp and a bit of residual power.

However, as far as those ascended items go, they’re much better than either carrion or rabid for a condition damage setup. They are actually half rabid stats, instead of fully the CD/V/T. However, even having only half the stats is really good. They hit both sides of the tuning crystals for more condition damage, and provide all the necessary needs for survivability in one package: vitality and toughness.

Pyroatheist.9031:

As far as absolute points go, rabid is strictly better for condition damage as toughness scales higher with tuning crystals, scales from undead runes, and scales from chaos 25 (not applicable for a glamour build obviously).

Plus it scales way better with heals. The majority of damage you take is direct.

I’m not sure why everyone is saying you don’t need precision for condition builds. Sharper Images with high crit makes a huge difference, especially with staff.

Rabid is an amazing set for condition staff mesmer.

Maybe I should rephrase my original question. Would taking more vitality be worth losing a few stacks of bleeding per Sharper Images?

I’m thinking yes. But I wanted to find other player’s input and potentially introduce this stat combo to other Mesmers utilizing condition builds.

At such small point differences per piece it’s purely a matter of personal preference. If you actively seek out outnumbered 1v4+ battles it’s probably better if you sacrifice some precision for vitality as it’ll help your survivability. If you’re facing 2-3 most of the time then mixing carrion for the extra power for a small sacrifice in survivability will be most beneficial. If all you want is 1v1 then full carrion might even be better than full rabid. It all depends on your playstyle and the situations you’re forced into in combat; what matters more is how well you adapt your gear and your playstyle into different situations, not theorycrafting with what-ifs and maybes.

It’s much easier to lure the enemy into a situation that favors your gear than to gear yourself so that every situation favors you.

Darx.9842:

I’m not sure why everyone is saying you don’t need precision for condition builds. Sharper Images with high crit makes a huge difference, especially with staff.

Rabid is an amazing set for condition staff mesmer.

Maybe I should rephrase my original question. Would taking more vitality be worth losing a few stacks of bleeding per Sharper Images?

I’m thinking yes. But I wanted to find other player’s input and potentially introduce this stat combo to other Mesmers utilizing condition builds.

For most of my builds including my condition build, I run with vitality on the weapons. I like to sit around 17-19k HP for WvW.

Rabid is best if you wan to min max. You’ll get higher condition damage going rabid over carrion. That said the cond/vit/tough stuff is optimal imo.