Guild Wars 2

So i really like the GS/Staff combination, and occasionally do Dungeon runs with my guild and WvW.

Trait wise for my shatter build is 20/20/0/0/30 best? or should i add a bit of toughness – 10/20/10/0/30??

Armor and weapons – do i aim for condition damage or direct damage?? i’ve heard full berserkers is good, but would valkyrie’s, rampager’s or another set be better??

Sorry its a lot of questions. Hope to hear your replies!

Never spend trait points just for the stats. The 20 points in Dueling and 30 points in Illusions are the only real ‘mandatory’ points of a shatter build. The remainder of the points can be put wherever you like. I’m assuming that you took the GS CD trait.

As for gear, the vast majority of damage will be direct, so power and precision/crit damage are going to yield the highest damage. The decision to stack vit/tough is up to you, but you will lose damage.

Thanks nilgoow. Yeah trait wise, i was debating whether the greatsword training was better or if i should instead spec 10 into chaos to get the reducing falling damage trait (for WvW)

So armor wise, should i aim for a full berserkers?? i can see how this would maximise my damage output but how about survivability?

Spot on Nilgoow, still if its direct dmg I dare to say 10 p in domination is if not mandatory atleast extrely good.

For Op I have to answer, are you realy sure about GS/Staff? I sure love ppl experementing with different weapsetups, I do it alot myself but GS as 2nd wep in a shatter build sounds like 2 sides of a coin. I explain, in many ways a GS work “get the enemy away and nuke em” You want to buck em away, you do more dmg at range with nr 1 and your clones keep attack.

A shatter build with 30 in Illusions work in totaly opposite way, you want to be in their face for burst, then JUKE out. For Juking you got the staff, its 2nd ability in combo with armour and field + skills make sure you get out after nuked.

Another part is that GS in general to survive use phantasm + range. A thief close to a GS glasscannon build have a happy day. So here you might need to build survival in gear and traits when you with another wepsetup might stack dmg.

Again, try anything and if you find a way to do it and win I would love it. Nothing mkae me happier than somone prowe me wrong by succed kill ppl in a way I havent thought about.

For shatter Ideas have a look at my guide:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/guide-WvWvW-Shatter-cat/first#post689789

/love Osicat

As a PvE Mesmer, I, to some extent, have stopped using Greatswords. They are good autoattack damage weapons, but the only advantage they have in party play is the range. They seem to offer little utility for the team. The iZerks are nice, but if you want a cripple, you can run Sword/X. If you want them for damage, try using a Staff3 or Pistol.

Regardless, in some instances I will be using GS and something else, be it any weapon.

What I, personally, do is spec into Illusions themselves and then focus myself off of that. In large, long boss fights, you will have the and opportunity to stack Illusions. If your team is able to keep large amounts of conditions on them, Staves are great as they can pop 3 Staff3’s and start nuking. If your team isn’t really able to do that, you CAN do iZerks, but I prefer Pistol Duelists.

Anyways, my current spec is 0/20/0/20/30 so I can spec myself for Illusions, and if I need to support, the traits offer good supportive options as well.

As for WvW, you’re going to want to run around with every weapon type, anyways, so I can’t really say much.

Thanks for the replies guys. Haha challenge accepted Osicat Will have a look at your build!!

I leveled from 60 to 80 with a GS/Staff shatter build, and played it for a while at 80, and have mixed feelings about it.

There are basically two ways to make a GS/Staff Shatter build – (1) get your illusions for shattering from reduced weapon cd’s and utility skills, or (2) from Deceptive Evasion (trait Dueling X, clone-on-dodge):

(Edit: gw2 forums doesn’t like these link formats, have to manually copy and paste. gw2skills.net down for atm, intothemists is next best, will replace later if I can)

1. http://www.intothemists.com/calc/?build=-Ng-Z;1kUVz0z6cVF71;9;4J-J-T09;229;256Ax

Pros:
- Low weapon cd’s for both GS and Staff, which is particularly nice with Staff’s defensive abilities (Chaos Armor + Protection, Chaos Armor combo, Chaos Field).
- Spawn illusions at 1200 range with GS
- You get really good burst protection proc every 30s from the two Chaos minor traits

Cons:
- You have to use up utility slots on clone spawning skills, limiting your loadout choices and making it more difficult to slot condition removal, shatter cd reset, blink, etc.
- You have to switch weapons when you need illusions to shatter, rather than just when you need a particular weapon skill
- GS prefers Power/Prec/Crit Dmg stats, Staff prefers Condition Dmg. Shatter is the tie-breaker since it favors direct damage (but Cond Dmg is useful too since it increases Confusion dmg and all your Shatters apply Confusion). TLDR – there’s a stat conflict between the two weapons, they are not complemetary.

2. http://www.intothemists.com/calc/?build=-Ng-Z;1kUk4197kWF71;9;49J;0T0;009;556AC

Pros:
- Easy clone spawning via dodges, more dodges via Vigor on Crit (Dueling 5pt minor trait)
- Since you get enough illusions for shattering from dodge + weapon skills, you don’t need illusion utility skills, can slot anything in your Utility skill slots. Lots of good options here – Feedback, Null Field, Mantra of Resolve, Blink, Signet of Illusions, Portal, etc.
- More clear definition of weapon roles: Greatsword for ranged offense, Staff + dodge + shatter for close quarters defense + offense. You don’t need to switch weapons to create clones, but rather based only on what is most appropriate to the combat situation.

Cons:
- Impossible to get all weapon cd reducing traits. You can get GS cd reducing traits and +20% Mind Wrack damage from 20 in Domination, but give up reduced cd’s on Staff, which may be painful (is to me since I rely more staff and find it more versatile and a better weapon overall)
- You also give up burst defense proc from the Chaos minor traits
- Generally more of a glass cannon oriented spec overall, but Staff is not a glass cannon weapon. It’s a defensive, attrition-based weapon. Osicat makes it work for his glass cannon Sword/Pistol + Staff wvw spec though.

I’ve generally come to prefer the Deceptive Evasion (clone-on-dodge) style builds, but I really miss 20ps in Chaos. But there’s just no way to get them unless you give up +20% damage to Mind Wrack, which is equally painful to give up.

At some point I’m going to get around to testing a Mesmer Necro-style build, based on Confusion stacking + Condition Damage. Clone-on-Dodge, Vigor on Crit, extended Confusion duration, that doesn’t rely on direct damage from Mind Wrack:

http://www.intothemists.com/calc/?build=-NZ-FF;0kUk4197kWF71;9;5JJ-T;139-29;246A;9;32VM

But haven’t done that yet, no idea how well it will work.

For me,
I started doing substantially better once I ditched the staff.

On greatsword:
If your doing shatter you want to get clones out fast.
GS (Domination 20, trait X Gratsword training) + Illusions 5 nets you a 4.5 sec CD on GS2 to pop out a clone.
Dueling 20, Trait X, deceptive dodge lets you pop out clones when you dodge.

Signet of illusions lets you reset your shatter (mind wrack) skill.

So you can GS4, GS2, dodge, Shatter[mindwrack].
Signet of illusions.
GS2 (or dodge) + Mirror immages, shatter [mindwrack]

And if you take the +20% mindwrack damage from the domination tree (that you already spent 20 points in) your going to do a hell of a lot of AOE damage in a very short amount of time.

I prefere running with sword/focus or scepter/focus as my secondary.
Focus 4 is a run speed boost. IT also lets you yank enemies to it for escapes or off walls etc.
Sword and scepter both have blocks/defense which are useful for surviving.

Staff…
yeah…
Chaos storm is great in all…every 35 seconds.
Chaos armor is meh, 33% damage mitigation is alright, BUT I much prefere takinkittenage via blocks/dodges/sword#2