I was running a hybrid build for a while, but it was PU and I just got sick of relying on stealth, so I tweaked it into this and have been having the best time in all areas of WvW (mostly roaming though) since release.
0/6/6/2/0 build
The gear is flexible, this is exactly what I run but you can see some things are sub-optimal, feel free to comment but also know I don’t really care about hyper optimizing my gear, as I’ve been shredding non-stop with this setup.
Harmonious mantras combined with Mender’s purity and centaur runes give you permanent swiftness and awesome condition removal. Build deals dmg like a standard hybrid build, dmg is from all sources except not too much shattering happening besides diversion. That leads to what separates this build from standard PU hybrid: Bountiful interruption and Chaotic Interruption. With the condi duration food and sigil, you get 5 stacks might plus random boon and hit them with 3 sec immobilize (and chill/blind/cripple).
With HM your daze mantra gets 3 charges, which is plenty to use freely and regulate on anyone. Seeing a Thief come at you and get interrupted and just sit there stuck for 3 sec, while your phantasms/clones/you are stacking bleeds and dmg buffed with might is very very awesome. Low cd and increased range on blink plus staff for defense makes you really mobile, and don’t forget constant swiftness. You will kite like a god.
Arcane thievery is not for condi clear, but rather for boon stealing, which especially ruins peoples day since feature patch with much more people relying on might stacking etc for dmg. It can also be a nicekittento a condi heavy clkittening you up. With mantra heal as above and AT condi is not a problem for you in this build.
It really can do it all besides shatter, and it is easy to hit 15+ stacks might very often which means you hit very hard. Survivability is good with 1600-1700+ toughness and all the mobility. I haven’t met a hard counter.
What I love most is the lockdown kind of control you have with interrupts and Arcane Thievery. You really have a lot of control and will find yourself laughing out loud very often at how bad you are kitten people. That for me is the number one thing I look for in a build, how often do I lol at how bad I just jacked someone with control, not just burst dmg. For me it’s just more satisfying to control someone and frustrate them then to outright kill them with raw dmg, not saying it’s better or worse than say shatter, just apples and oranges. But if you like lockdown but don’t want to go full out for it, this for me has all the joys of lockdown and enough dmg and utility to in my opinion have the best of all worlds (except extreme shatter burst ofc).
Nobody will escape you with perm swiftness, cripple from izerker and AT with increased range to steal swiftness from them. This is the main reason I will not play pure condi, with this build nobody can just run away from a fight. Not to mention, CI combined with Mantra of Distraction will allow you to get some phat interrupts on targets mashing their escapes trying to run, which roots them. So ya, you can escape anyone and noone will escape you, two requirements for fun wvw roaming at least for me.
As far as pacing of fights goes, you’ll notice people just steadily fall apart, the bleeds and confusion plus phantasm and your dmg wear them down, and when might stacks up I will go for a mind wrack or close range mirror blade for some burst. You won’t see shatter levels of burst, but when your might stacks are high up you will definitely hit people very hard.
I think that covers it. I’ve worked on this a lot and for me the traits are optimal, but I’m very interested in your feedback and ideas for improvement.
Not super pro at filming and ever more not super into taking the time to edit into a nice video, so take it for what it is and see how it goes. Hopefully some day I’ll remember to hit record often enough to get a sweet video to post, it’s a goal but I don’t have one now; apologies all around.
Last but not least thanks to all the pro mesmers who have posted builds I’ve learned from, Chaos and Doiid ( I think) in particular for the lockdown ideas and hybrid ideas, and any others too. And ofc free pyro!
Edit: Also just want to say that the Mesmer community has been awesome from day one and one of the things I really enjoy about GW2. So thanks as well to all you dudes and dudettes (any?) out there who keep mesmerizing despite the never ending waves of nerfs and bugs and everything else.
(edited by MSFone.3026)