Guild Wars 2

Hi, I’m a 80 Ranger who wanted to roll a Mesmerer alt so to be actually useful in dungeons. However, I am finding I have a hard time surviving compared to the way I played my ranger (glass cannon with my buddy polar bear). I’m only lvl 19 right now but I’m having a pretty rough time so far, to the point that I might be downed by only 2 mobs if unlucky.

I know that Mesmerer is a very complex class compared to Ranger, so I am here looking for some help surviving PvE. I’ve been putting everything gear and stat-wise into toughness to try to give myself a better chance. I’m running GS/Sword-Torch right now, but I realize I’m probably doing it wrong.

I’ve been using the first heal because I died my fair share of times with the meditate one. I have decoy and mirror image on utilities. I had pain inverter, but found it wasn’t saving my life so I switched it out.

I would apperciate any help, tips, strats, and builds to help me stay alive in PvE (I’m almost always leveling solo).

Im also lvling my mesmer, after playing warrior. Recently i found Lazy Kai`s Guide to PvE Leveling Guide and its working nice for me.

What setups are you using?

I’m also leveling my mesmer now (level 52 atm), and I gotta say I find it to me so much more of a struggle opposed to leveling my elementalist. Like the poster above me I used Kai’s PVE guide, and it helped me quite a lot, but it’s still crap imo.

I run a GS/Staff setup like 99% of the people leveling do. The greatsword is best for singletarget, while I swap for my staff when I need to fight more than 2-3 mobs.

Basically you want to shatter your illusions all the time. I pump out one from 2 on either the GS/staff, then my mirror images and shatter them at once. Depending on what mob it is, it’s usually close to dead.

I don’t really recognize the fact that you say you die alot, because the staff is great for kiting. My biggest annoyance is that chain-killing stuff takes to long time (with the cooldowns etc).

GL with your future endeavors. Mesmers supposedly kick kitten at level 80 though.

Single target enemies should be no problem, so what I did when I was leveling was to use the weapons that are well suited for fighting multiple enemies. This is the Staff and the Sword + Focus.

Chaos Storm + iWarden + Sword #2 will put the hurt on a group of enemies.

Hey there.
As others have mentioned, you could give my leveling guide a go. The guide is fairly straight forward and focuses on your offense.
If you feel uncomfortable with this, feel free to adapt. The staff is a very versatile defensive tool. Using it might slow you down a bit, but everything is faster than to die and respawn.
Good luck and have fun.

My first 80 was a ranger so I know how easy rangers have it in PvE. Honestly, I felt like I facerolled my way to 80 on it.

My mesmer has been a whole different story. At low levels I felt incredibly weak and died frequently. One on one, I could win but would be at like half health or worse by the time it was over. Forget dealing with adds.

What I did was level him up using crafting to get some trait points. Once I got to about level 25 or so, things got easier. And now I’m at level 73 and having a blast! The key for mesmers, imho, is trait points. You really really need them for the class to feel viable.

Mesmers start off slow but around 20ish they start to ramp up, at 25 you’ll feel completely different and it just gets faster from there, at least thats what it felt like for me, and i suppose that had a lot to do with trait points.

i personally run a GS / Staff build focusing on Condition + Power+Crit / Toughness, i am a beast atm at 46 nothing can stop me, in 50 area’s atm collecting some nice drops, my gear isnt great either, 40-46 lvlish.

my playstyle,

single target: GS mainly not much need to swithc to staff, if i do its to blink away and summon phantasm.

Multiple: start off with GS 2 then a phantasm, follow up by the AoE from the staff get a mage combo the field with my own casts and the mages wait until a clone/tasm is short of hp, MW > GS, push back if needed and 2 then there pretty much smokes, tbh GS is fine with move #2 for aoe atleast atm.

i go with mirrors / heal / blink / invis+clone / moa or veil

I personally have found I have a lot of fun with Precision, Toughness, Condition Damage gear. I picked traits that make My illusions criticals cause bleeding, and make all my shatters cause Confusion. Two good sources of info out there that i have found beneficial for me are Osicat, with his shattercat build, and Mr Prometheus with his Comprehensive Video guide to mesmer. Mr prometheus’ guides are 4, but they are worth watching as he summarizes the benefits of all the weapons and offhands. All heal skills, Utility skills elites, and traits… How they interact.

Before I saw his videos I also used the staff to kite, and yes, found it slow going. AFTER, I learned to use the staff to pull 2 or 3 mobs at a time, and get into melee range, for 4 Illusion shatters. ( 2 words Illusionary Persona).

The Staff has 3 skills that work wonderfully with each other, and with etheral fields Like Null field or Time warp. Phase Retreat, Chaos Armor, and Chaos Storm.

Just 1 Point since Tl;dr. Chaos Storm applies aegis On everyone in it, all the time, if you get attacked while within the storm, it will do a 100 % block, and then… reapply aegis. If 1 aegis every 40 seconds is awesome from a Guardian… Imagine 2 back to back aegis’s with a few seconds of one another, every 30 ? or less with the right traits… I think I am down to 24 seconds.

Always put your first 5 trait points Into Illusions. After that, experiment. But ya… Pull lots of mobs with the staff… Chaos storm + Phase Retreat = Chaos Armor, then get into the faces of those mobs, don’t run away, between your clones applying conditions iWarlock exploiting those Conditions, all those clones applying Boons to yourself, and you applying conditions whil applyying Boons to yourself… and every ally around you. No real reason to kite. Do look up the Mr Prometheus videos. Or the shattercat build, or both, and have fun :-)

PS. I usually run with staff, sword/pistol or focus. I toss a torch in there sometimes In dungeons, I may be doing that more now. Ethereal Field + The Mirage = Area Chaos Armor. My skills are Ether Feast, Mirror Images, Blink, Null Field, and Time Warp.

If there’s any advice I can give you, keep going! The payoff at 80 is well worth it. Mesmer is a very trait dependent class, so once you break 40, things pick up quite a bit. To be fair, I crafted through most of my low levels. Taking a craft from 1 to 400 nets 10 character levels.

Mechanics: I was also very frustrated when leveling my Mesmer. I didn’t get how clones were supposed to work (I thought they would take aggro and tank like a pet) or why they didn’t do any damage. Their biggest function is shattering, which I shied away from at first. Mind Blast is now a bread and butter skill for me. If you find your clones are being unruly/unhelpful, try popping out more phantasms (the ghostly ones). They pack a punch and have a bit more health.

Weapons: I ran GS/Staff for most of my lower levels. Phase Retreat on the staff is a life saver, and staff clones apply conditions. I find I’m now most effective at medium to close range, but low levels I got slaughtered carrying a sword. Took me a while to figure out how to use Illusionary Leap, swap with the clone, hit Blurred Frenzy (strong damage + invuln), shatter with either Mind Blast for extra damage or Distortion for extra protection, and then either Blink or swap to staff and Phase Retreat out of the line of fire. You get used to it though (If only they would fix iLeap so it worked more consistently)

Utilities: Mirror Images is a good choice. Pop that right before healing (more illusions = more health, though I found I needed some healing power accessories to beef this up as well). Decoy I don’t use often, though Blink rarely leaves my bar. It’s great for getting out of trouble, speeding up travel, or popping in to rez a downed party member. The third slot is a large variable depending on what I’m doing. Condition removal often goes here, but Feedback and Portal are some of my favorites as well. If I’m running with a Guardian, Signet of Inspiration is a godsend.

Anyway, just a couple tips from my experience. Hope they help!

Hi

i understand ur problem .. i lvled mesemr after dd ele … also feel that difference …

however my suggestions is use staff … its good aoe weapon with very strong defence and staff clones can kill pack of mobs fast with condicions …
take 5 points in illusions for 20% faster recharge rest is up to u … also use clones for tanking especially on low lvls .. shatter for finishing ..

at lvl 40 take deceptive evasion and things will be much easier

cheers Xixsa

I have 400hours on my mesmer level 80, yet I still have NOT found a playstyle or guide in which I feel comfortable in. you can add me if you want and I can help with questions or things of that nature. Raines-Darkhaven.

Quee.2389:

Single target enemies should be no problem, so what I did when I was leveling was to use the weapons that are well suited for fighting multiple enemies. This is the Staff and the Sword + Focus.

Chaos Storm + iWarden + Sword #2 will put the hurt on a group of enemies.

add in Focus 4 and then while standing on the field and in Sword 3 twice and staff 2 Phase Retreat for leap finishers and retaliation stacks… that helps… and don’t forget to stack confusion from your shatters. Chaos storm, if you can stand in it and fight for it’s duration will really pile on the boons… mesmers are kitten hard to kill if played correctly, even if you just stand there… Retaliation/Confusion/all Boons except stability/and Chaos Armor!? Good grief, you can literally stack those up and not attack and NPC’s will kill themselves.

Sivi.2437:

Im also lvling my mesmer, after playing warrior. Recently i found Lazy Kai`s Guide to PvE Leveling Guide and its working nice for me.

This x1000. I put a thread up requesting a build for a new mesmer because I was having problems with the class even though I loved it. Lazy Kai’s guide really ought to be stickied. The build and the strategy both work and they make a huge difference while leveling. I went from being frustrated at being dead weight in WvWvW to being able to contribute to the groups I was in.