Guild Wars 2

Jhughes.8341:

I have been trying a lot of builds here lately and though I am not as experienced as you guys are, so far the easiest method for zone clearing (map completion) is GS S/F. I generally only use sword/focus for the swiftness and then I suppose I use it for veterans and if a champ event spawns or something. I trait mantras and Gs with as many " + X% damage" boosts as I can get and trash mobs usually die with a single GS2->dodge->f1. GS is the fastest weap for zone clearing isn’t it? or am I just missing something. I fully understand that sword does way more deeps but hell, I usually never in melee range unless its a vet or higher.

Nothing beats a nice GS + S/F combo at world completion or even in open world PvE in general. You are doing it right.

Just my 2 cents, someone might tell you different.

Am I the only one that runs 10 20 0 30 10? Or is it not viable?

30 duelling > 30 inspiration if you are going that route (build that isn’t completely based on phantasms for DPS?), because of damage% on mantra trait which is amazing for buffing reflect damage.

if you are looking for pure phantasm builds perhaps other spreads like 0/20/0/25/25 may be more appealing and worth it as they have more overall phantasm uptime I think. the pure phantasm build will change after the Dec 10 balance due to IC being moved to 15 illusions. meta phantasm build at the time may become 10/20/0/25/15 I think.

the reflect buffing build will not change. some builds may also drop warden’s feedback but depending on your group this may not be worth it.

30 inspiration > 30 duelling due the fact that damage is < utility. Inspiration trait skills are the best we have, they grant massive stronger effects. +4% damage for you per charged mantra is meh, due you try to avoid to use them and have to pick a semigood healskill or just stay there without inspiration sigill or timewarp wich leaves you with +4% damage … wow.

+2 sec glamour dura or -20% cdr brings you probably more “DpS” from reflection. Also medics feedback is a must have in every reflection dungeon, became really strong last patch. And underestimating healing mantras is a big mistake too.

The whole inspiration traitline won’t force you to use XY, they can adapt perfectly to the situation. Duelling can’t. That’s why inspiration traits are so awesome.

Talking about PvE – and it’s just my opinion.

Healing mantras are bad, and obviously 10/30/0/20/10 takes glamour mastery. 30 duelling lets you get excellent %damage modifiers. Medic’s feedback is not necessary if people aren’t faceplanting a lot and it really isn’t amazing.

I don’t run with lousy PUGs who don’t stack boons, so when we run mesmers they don’t often need SoI. Even when some skills have to be slotted in (e.g. null field for retal, feedback for obvious stuff) that’s a 12-8% modifier right there, which really makes a big difference. The mantra effects themselves are really good and make them worth taking.

Of course, this only really applies the most to dungeons where extra reflect damage is important, but there really isn’t much of a reason to bring a mesmer outside of those. Focus pulls are nice but oftentimes you can just use a corner to LOS mobs, and SoI is useless when you have LH ele + guardian synergy for all the boons.

Healing mantras aren’t bad, you should test them with MoP then against something useful like Alpha. They can be very very useful and a HpS of 600-3000 (depending on allies affected) is really not ignorable.

Medic’s feedback works aswell on NPC’s And 60%-80% reflection actually is really kitten.

If you don’t run with “lousy” PUG’s thats pretty good for you but I’m just playing with one RL friend and that’s why I prefer a situational build. Seems to be just a different world where some builds are personal better than others. I mean you could reach +26.44% damage wich is really kitten.

why are you ressing NPCs?

guanlongwucaii.3162:

why are you ressing NPCs?

because just pressing the button and cancel the rev still creates a feedback dome. So why are you using feedback ?

is it all that common to find dead NPCs in convenient places where your party can take advantage of the feedback bubble? and it’s not as if feedback can be aimed at a specific enemy to shut down its ranged attacks or anything…

I do agree that the mantra damage trait is not always the best in PUGs, but there is nothing saying that you can’t have access to both that and 30 inspirations with a 10/30/0/30/0 spread (although I still think 30 inspiration is less worth than 25). also, whether or not 10 in illusions is even worth it for builds that aren’t reliant on reflects is questionable. why not take the pistol cd trait > compounding power?

TLDR 10/30/0/30/0 offers more options that 10/20/0/30/10, even in PUGs.

Agreed. The illusion trait is only for damage and that’s why I don’t like it. Duelling and Inspiration are much more adaptable. Mantara damage is pretty noticable, I just did not like to use mantras if I had it :/
Inspiration 25 is damage, 30 is utility. Not compareable imo. However I like to spend the points in inspiration over illusion.
And yea, there are more dead NPC’s than you think. You’ll notice them when you start to use them. One can tell me how bad this trait is – I can’t tell you how many times it saved my kitten .