Guild Wars 2

By a true mesmer build, I’m aiming for one that can utilize illusions in their ability to confuse an enemy – not condition wise. I want a trait build that can successfully trick an enemy into thinking the illusion is the real mesmer, and not just use illusions as condition fodder. Mainly a ‘trololol’ build.

My draft includes maxed dueling and chaos. This gives Deceptive Evasion, Mirror of Anguish, and Debilitating Dissipation. I also like interrupting skills, so I might drop 10 points into domination.

My preferred weapon set are: scepter/pistol, and greatsword. I am debating if I should swap scepter out for sword. I just prefer range over melee, so I’m intent on keeping scepter, even if the sword is more deceptive. (And I already carry a greatsword and pistol. Kinda feels odd to play a magic-based class and not use a magic-based weapon..)

Utility wise, I’m not a fan of mantra skills, so I’m avoiding most of the traits for them. I want my shatter to focus on inflicting vulnerability/end the combo for a killing blow, instead of adding conditions. To be honest, I’d rather have illusions out on the field longer, and being a general nuisance, than sending them to the enemy for max condition damage.

Confusion is fun to troll people with…so I still want to have that utilized. I want to be able to pile confusion on an enemy at a decent rate without relying on shatter skills…but I cannot find a proper way to accomplish this. I don’t want to dump X amount of stacks all at once on my opponent….just drop it every now and again when they least expect it.

To be honest, I have never relied on boon generation for my mesmer…I just relied on other people to give it to me. Worked fine in zergs. What is your take: are boons worth experimenting on for a mesmer? Any boons I got was just a plus, and never bothered to be incorporated into the fight.

Right off the bat, I don’t want to limit my mesmer’s damage output. I currently play a modified zerker build, so I’m used to the glass cannon style. I understand I need to sacrifice damage for survivability, but I don’t want to have such a major switch in the mechanics. I am wondering….would getting full zerker armor/jewelry, while having a defensive trait set, be viable?

Please share me your advice, input and experience. I’d very much appreciate it.

(And please don’t /insert-link-of-step-by-step-of-someone-with-a-good-build. I want to create my own build for my own play style – I want something unique. I’m picking off bits here and there and taking what I like, but I do not want a copy pasta of someone else. Other people can have great ideas – which is why I’m asking on the forums. I just want to branch away from the general builds for mesmers.)

You will never fool anyone who has played a mesmer, or is experienced in fighting them, that your clones are actually you. Why? Because clones don’t dodge, and you do. So they can just spam AoEs until they see the dodge, call target on you, and you’re dead. If you stealth, they’ll just repeat AoEs until they see the dodge.

Anierna.6918:

You will never fool anyone who has played a mesmer, or is experienced in fighting them, that your clones are actually you. Why? Because clones don’t dodge, and you do. So they can just spam AoEs until they see the dodge, call target on you, and you’re dead. If you stealth, they’ll just repeat AoEs until they see the dodge.

True, but I have a different build for PvP for my mesmer. Any element of surprise for PvP is short term. I’m aiming more for roaming and concentrated zerg fights in WvW. And PvE…but monsters don’t need trolling.

HOWEVER…..I have come across one mesmer in PvP who was a pain in the neck with clones. My team had a hard time targeting the real mesmer.

Get as many clone spawns, stealthes and move as less possible when not stealthed. Don’t get too many boons, don’t spawn phantasm, don’t do anything wierd your clones wont do and don’t attack while running.

But yeah, 0 DPS.

Yeah, black devil pretty much covered it. In order to look like a clone you must

• Not move when using a ranged weapon
• Manually autoattack slower than normal
• Use no signets or mantras or boons
• Only attack while not moving when using a melee weapon
• No dodging or strafing
• No using any skills other than autoattack
• When shattering, stop everything else and charge your target
  • How you got clones to shatter while doing the above is not clear

Doing anything other than what I said will result in any competent player immediately recognizing the real Mesmer.

Use this:

2x Sigils of Energy
Endurance Food

I made a “confusing illusionist” sort of Mesmer build once, and it really kind of rocked. It was condition-based though, as I needed toughness to pretend to be a clone and I needed my damage to be indistinguishable from my clone’s damage. It was a 0/20/20/0/30 condition-shatter build that specialized with the staff (and had scepter/torch), it was a nightmare to fight because my stealths kept resetting the battle, and I’d do sneaky things like Phase Retreat + Decoy to keep them guessing while my clones and I autoattacked them to death. Not the MOST effective, but good times. So many angry PMs.

Anyways, you’re definitely going to want to stack on some stealth, Decoy is a must here as is Deceptive Evasion. I’d say to stick with the Scepter, so it’s easier to stand around auto-attacking like a clone. I know you’re going for a power-based build, but it’s MUCH harder to be deceptive when you have to shatter or summon phantasms. Condition builds use clones for damage, so it’d be way more fitting to your playstyle.

Greatsword gives you away more than staff does too, as greatsword autoattack on the main mesmer is noticeably faster than the clones. I think your general idea to make a hard-to-distinguish Mesmer is very possible, but not with those specifications.

A staff, hm? I never really liked staves, but they really are more viable for this kind of build. Perhaps I’ll give them a second (or third, or forth) try.

BlackDevil.9268:

Get as many clone spawns, stealthes and move as less possible when not stealthed. Don’t get too many boons, don’t spawn phantasm, don’t do anything wierd your clones wont do and don’t attack while running.

But yeah, 0 DPS.

Pyroatheist.9031:

Yeah, black devil pretty much covered it. In order to look like a clone you must

• Not move when using a ranged weapon
• Manually autoattack slower than normal
• Use no signets or mantras or boons
• Only attack while not moving when using a melee weapon
• No dodging or strafing
• No using any skills other than autoattack
• When shattering, stop everything else and charge your target
  • How you got clones to shatter while doing the above is not clear

Doing anything other than what I said will result in any competent player immediately recognizing the real Mesmer.

I actually had a few friends help me test it, and this ideology of ‘acting like a clone’ does NOT work. My friends were still able to win fights and pick me out…because they could kill the clones quickly. But after switching to a more ‘sneaky’ approach and moving constantly, they were more confused during the actual fight. So I have to strongly disagree that acting like a dumb AI and spamming auto attack is the only way to utilize clones outside of shredding.

IMO the best way is to just stay out of sight. Clone up → Stealth → Run through and behind the enemy. People usually expect one of the mesmers on their screen is the real one, so make sure you are not among the choices on screen.

get a name with: Illusionary …….

I got Illusionary Triplet , and from what i noticed it helps in the confusion part of the mesmer. Tho its only a very small add , and it wont really fool an experienced player
i would like to think that it makes it harder for them to target you and your phantasms

No build makes your illusions any more confusing. They are the exact same from beginning of the game until end. The best you can do is go Asura (or even a large Charr?), spam illusions/clones/phantasms and utilize stealth as much as you can.

Zach.3264:

No build makes your illusions any more confusing. They are the exact same from beginning of the game until end. The best you can do is go Asura (or even a large Charr?), spam illusions/clones/phantasms and utilize stealth as much as you can.

No build maybe, but traits and stats that help strengthen illusion-based gameplay and combos are what I’m looking for.

Like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AktPcA_vJM

I’ve been playing around with skill sets, and this is one of my favorite combos. There’s plenty more, and many ways for them to intertwine. Clones can be more than just shatter fodder.

It gave me over 20 seconds of retaliation boon. That’s not so bad. Long enough for me to swap back to a sword as well. It would certainly be tricky to find someone who would stand still while I beat them up, but the chain is pretty speedy. And they’re facing 2 sword wielders and one staff user, with the real Mesmer far in the back.

Hm…did my clone also get retaliation?

Note: I am not hating on shatter skills. Shatter is awesome. I just feel like it’s overused and the clone’s full potential isn’t utilized before being shattered.

Try using a scepter, spam some clones, stealth with Decoy, and Blink to the opponent. This might fool them into thinking you’re a clones, even if it’s a mesmer-experienced player. Or maybe use decoy and go around to hide behind the corner and the opponent just takes care of the clones without realizing that the mesmer isn’t even mixed in.

I think you’re perhaps looking at it the wrong way…. clones are not really meant to be a permanent distraction.
The second the clone gets hit and does not react like a normal player (i.e. move away, dodge etc.) the clone’s disguise is lost. The only way you can keep your opponents guessing is to keep spawning new clones in the spot you were a moment ago.

There are a number of ways to achieve this, but the easiest is stealth skills combined with deceptive evasion. If you time it right, your opponents will think the clone is you while you stealth away. This gives you a few seconds of free time to move away, reposition and maybe spawn another clone (or just run away). But bear in mind that any one clone will only fool an opponent for a few seconds.

I don’t think clones could ever be a permanent distraction. But think of this: when a clone gets hit, what’s the most likely response of the opponent? They’ll just destroy the annoying clone and move on to the next target. Great chance for condition-applying traits upon clone death.

I haven’t experimented with stealth skills for mesmer. Decoy and veil seem to be the only reliable stealth skills. MI takes too long to cast. Perhaps I’ll start experimenting with the torch – it has a burst combo, so it could add boons to my own clones too.