I’m so use to the traditional Mesmer from guild wars one. You have constant interrupts or manipulate the opponent’s life/ cast. Playing the opponents moves like a puppet and and getting them madder and madder because of the lack of control of the fight. But people fail remember that the Mesmer was originally the Fencing/ caster class. I guess its just me but i think that the Mesmer has gotten to the point where you keep your distance and rip boons off and just stack conditions.
I feel with the last build and balance changes i can finally bring back the fencing and interrupts. My build is as followed:
http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-NFRFF;0kUV1187sU-71;9;5TT9;203B27B3;3Jok4X;1TsW6TsW62F
This build is great for either parts and there are multiple swapping your can do on the traits in the tree but i run this one currently in wvw / spvp.
I went with 30 points in dueling because lets be honest… fencing … dueling.. on the same table to me. I use trait one with conjunction with Blink and Arcane Thievery to get boons off of a pest guardian/engi. If running in pve you can switch the blink for Signet of Inspiration so you can rip boons off the boss and copy then to your party. I use 4 and 12 for now just to get the added burst with Blurred Frenzy.
On the Chaos side 3 is a given for the cd on all manipulation. This is great for spve and dungeons for your Manipulation of Life to get your party Mesmer for the some what free rez. 8 is amazing for the free boons and added might. Grand master on chaos can be changed; i use it currently for the lyss build and the free escape in spvp and WvW
Lastly to help with condition removal i use 4 in Inspiration.
Im using Lyss runes at the moment just for the added condi. removal and free boons. I also have a set with with fighter runes for the added might. Rabid armor is the most beneficial for your bleeds/ confusion. The added toughness helps with the Chaotic Transference to add more condi damage.
Now for rotation. For me if im running around and just need to get to point a to point b with out getting hit i run the 2 swords for the blocks. This is also great in Orr for the pulls that the casters do or in WvW/ Spvp with the sneaky thief coming out of no where. If you can get the intrupt off from the counter Blade you get the chance of quickness and get a random boons / 5 stacks of might.
The heal spell to me is a must. Mirror has 2 defensive components:
1. It heals for almost 1/4 of your heal.
2. It reflects projectiles back to your enemies.
This is great when running / kitting enemies like harpies/ rangers/ casters. with the runes i have this gives me another random boon but with fighter it gives more might for more damage. I would have used the mantra recovery but the heal isn’t that great and ether feast is a longer CD plus I’m not trying to have illusions up at all times.
When I’m assaulting i run the sword pistol. Popping Duelist before entering is great to get some bleeds and damage before entering. Then popping Leap which will immobilize them and Blurred Frenzy to do damage and get the Distortion. If timed right you can get a bullet off and get an interrupt for more might/ and boons. Don’t for get…( like i have so many times ) you have Diversion (shatter F3 ) for another interrupt.
You will be getting stronger and stronger as time goes on with the vulnerability stacking from your number 1 skill and added Sigil of Frailty. To the point even guardians if timed right with interrupts will be nuked
This build to me feels more like the fencing / caster i left in guild wars 1 and brings back the rants from many players " Mesmers and their stupid constant interrupts!!!" The added escapes like decoy and invis are great for getting away to get some distance before coming back in to finish them off ( some what like a thief) let me know what you think.