Guild Wars 2

Let’s have discussion on the merits and pros and cons of different racial skills for Mesmers. I know that racial skills are not as great as profession skills and that they’re supposedly there just for flavor but surely, some of them must have borderline/situational uses that could perhaps synergize or fill in a weakness of the Mesmer class.

Disregarding looks or personal preference, what do you think is the best race (in terms of racial skills) for Mesmers and why?

I went with Asura. I like the Radiation Field racial skill which type of combo field that mesmers don’t have access to (poison) . And color palette of asura racial skills is matching mesmer palette so it is a clear sign. Main deciding factor was that I like the race itself, of course.

Short answer:

It doesn’t matter. Pick your race based on aesthetics.

Long answer:

There are couple racial skills worth mentioning. Sylvari’s Grasping Roots can provide a more reliable root than the sword leap and Healing Seed complements the 15pt Chaos Trait if you can stand by it consistently. The Asura have Pain Inverter which might fit nicely into a Confusion build and Radiation Field applies Poison and Weakness which can complement a staff build nicely. In general, all races have some kind of condition inflicting racial skills that have some synergy with iWarlock’s bonus damage per condition.

The problem is that our profession’s utility and elite skills are just too awesome in comparison. Time Warp trumps every single racial elite you could choose from. Feedback and Null Field are also staples in any group setting, and I don’t go anywhere without at least one stun breaker. That simply doesn’t leave any room for racial skills on my bar.

As others have said, some racials give a tiny, tiny bit better situational effect, but really our Mesmer skills ultimately win when it comes to filling my bar with consistently useful skills. Some racials are fun and showy, but nothing beats the profession-specific skills and utilities.

Honestly, in the end, just pick the race you like. The racials will never give you an advantage over another.

Asuran. Every time.

You ask why?

Because….asurans are better, at anything. Everything.

Have you SEEN our city? It’s a floating cube powered by magic and SCIENCE.

Pfft. Charr have a death star. Now I just have to find the NPC that will tell me how it is fully armed and operational.

I like my Sylvari for the Mesmer. Why?

When I need to tag as many enemies as I can in a DE, I’ll just pull out the Sylvari’s elite Summon Druid Spirit. AoE auto-attack for 60 seconds helps, especially as all of our Elites do no damage. Sadly, only 60 seconds in a 240 sec CD but still useful for that situation.

That and Healing Seed for Dungeons. Its not the Ranger’s Healing Spring, but the Mesmer has nothing like it to help allies/NPCs heal up.

Went human myself. Why? No particular reason, they just look that good in Mesmer gear.

I don’t know about other races but with Asura’s you get the Poison combo field but even more useful is the Pain inverter which gives Confusion which is great for condition damage type builds and stacking confusion.

hehe I have a human just because I liked their overall look (so pretty!) but I never get tired of seeing an Asura GS mesmer tossing that big blade onto their shoulder and running around. So adorable (and awesome)

Robotsonik.4935:

hehe I have a human just because I liked their overall look (so pretty!) but I never get tired of seeing an Asura GS mesmer tossing that big blade onto their shoulder and running around. So adorable (and awesome)

You mean like me ? :P

(Older screenshot btw)

I chose sylvari because the default on the class select screen looked like Katy Perry in E.T.

Also there’s something awesome about being a pink and purple flower lady wearing pink and purple slinging around pink and purple magic.

Screw racials! Humans are the true mesmers

Difficult to say. Much more than individual abilities, size is a factor with us:

1. Generally speaking, as a squishy, being small might be an advantage.
2. However, for us specifically, Clones in Norn/Charr size are very good in enclosed spaces to make targetting impossible.

Beyond that I’d simply go by style. Thing is, the racials aren’t that strong, not even the human self-heal.

The sylvari racial skill ‘grasping vines’ has saved me on more then one occasion. It doesn’t mention in the tooltip but the vines also damage the enemy over time while they hold the foe, however, they can miss the target if they are moving around. Oddly enough, if they miss they seem to enrage some foes who will stop attacking you to turn around and tear the vine apart.

I never get tired of seeing an Asura GS mesmer tossing that big blade onto their shoulder and running around. So adorable (and awesome)

Yes, there is something very special about them running with GS or executing Blurred Frenzy. I have cute Asura female and every time she does it I’m like this .

I actually went asura because i was thinking only asuras could be mesmers, lol!
but yeah, it fitted on perfectly xd

I had a tough time picking my race, but it was 90% about aesthetics instead of abilities.

Charr: Was never really considered. Cloth armor just doesn’t look good on them.
Norn: Mammoth greatswords. Looks awesome. Other than that, they don’t seem to embody the feeling of a mesmer.
Human: Armor looks fine. Not much to be said.
Sylvari: Too leafy. Leafy versions of everything. Odd.
Asura: Cute and all, but too small. I like to be able to see my armor and weapons, not be drowned out in a sea of normal-sized beings.

It was really between humans and sylvari. Went with human .. safe route.. kinda wishing I went sylvari though….. might have to re-roll.

Since mesmers won’t be tanking too much, the best race is the smallest, so that: 1) live opponents have a harder time detecting you, and 2) those who target via selection with mouse selection have a harder time clicking on you.

The smallest race is not arguable.

People still click their targets?

:)

Human. Suits the concept best.

My Mesmer is a human because of roleplay / character concept reasons. As a bonus, the Order of Whispers armor is pretty kitten, and Reaper of Grenth is pretty fun, too. PBAOE chill + poison pulses for 15s = kitten.

I am curious as to anyone has spawned clones while under the effect of a Norn’s shapeshifting elite by use of a utility slot or dodge cone. Does the clone retain the shape of your shapeshift or your standard form?

I ask only because Norn seems to really be the only race who’s abilies directly botch a key mesmer mechanic – confusing your opponent with clone usage. Well unless you count the human shifts as well but those are moderatelty less obtrustive.

Re: SuburbanLion’s comment – grasping roots hits if your opponent isn’t moving but misses otherwise (thus not exactly reliable, bug I suspect). But due to the greatsword’s knockdown effect grasping roots can be used to full effect if chained afterwards even on a target who is intent on bullrushing the mesmer.

Mesmers are supposed to be charming, so human does it best, sorry but huge giant like ppl nor a race with fangs are charming. Plus it has to be female.

I feel that Sylvari Healing Seed and the Turret spawn Elite with 3sec invulnerability complement a staff Mesmer extremely well. I also love using Healing Seed in groups that consist of more than myself.
Asura have the 2 second daze utility and the poison field, which is OK as well.
Oh yeah, and pain inverter confusion is nice, too

In terms of what synergizes best, I think it’s easier to look at what Mesmers are lacking. The heal skills are a bit hard to pull off. They’re on par with other classes, but need a little more skill to use to their full potential. Ether feast needs all you clones up, which is hard in heavy aoe. Mantra needs time to set up again after the first use which is hard in heavy cc and mirror has a longer cd and heal than other heals for the reflection bonus which is only useful when there’s stuff to reflect. So Blessing of Dwayna (Humans) and Healing Seed (Sylvari) are both welcome easier-use heals.

Second, mesmers spawn lots of pets, but what do they not spawn? Pets that least before and after battles. I understand not all classes have this but when you actually look at the list, technically only thieves and warriors do not have it. And that’s questionable since Thieves do have the summon allies elite, even if that is an /elite/ and going to very rarely have a heavy impact. Replacement? Summon wurm (Norn) Seed Turret (Sylvari).

Now the one thing I think is the most helpful though, is something to shore up our lack of aoe damage. We have one ground targetted aoe damage spell. It’s our #5 staff skill, and it has a long cd. (Yes, there’s the GS #3 skill too but it’s tiny as hell, and doesn’t sit on the ground. It’s one burst and gone.) Asura have the single best solution to this, and that is their poison cloud. Charr have a workable help to this with their shrapnel grenade, but it’s a bit like GS #3 skill and I don’t like it as much for trying to tag mobs in DE.

TL:DR Think about what you hate missing the most and you’ll find at least one race that can fix it.

Made myself a Asura they look pretty cool. Didnt really expect it tbh

don’t pick a race for abilities, go for what you want aesthetically and thematically

I personally chose charr because I’ve always assumed that mesmers are actually pretty sinister, we mess around with peoples very SANITY for gods sake, that’s even scarier than necromaners, they make you sick and make flesh puppets, we can drive people INSANE.
as to how that fits in with the charr, that’s exactly the sort of reason they tolerate mesmers, they’re ok with necros because having undead is useful, elementalist because they’re the traditional combat mage, mesmers because being able to turn an enemy into a gibbering wreck is not only tactical, but hilarious

also, because nobody expects the charr to be a magic user, and really, isn’t that what mesmers are about?
(as the order of whispers would say, expect the unexpected)

Fay.2735:

Robotsonik.4935:

hehe I have a human just because I liked their overall look (so pretty!) but I never get tired of seeing an Asura GS mesmer tossing that big blade onto their shoulder and running around. So adorable (and awesome)

You mean like me ? :P

(Older screenshot btw)

aww She’s cute! cough awesome!

I went with a male Norn, and made him as big and mean looking as possible. Why? Because it’s absurd and funny as heck to see a giant manly guy throwing around pink/purple crap. Also I like the snow leopard elite, even though I rarely use it.

I also have a male Norn mesmer, and I find that the Bear transformation is a good OS button if you are using sw/p. If ya start getting too squishy, fire up your phantasms and turn into a friggin’ bear. Your health doubles and you do good damage.