Guild Wars 2

Whattup guys!

So i’ve been tinkering around with this build for a while and i’ve decided to share it with my fellow mesmer community. It’s a phantasm/mantra hybrid, that specializes in raw, brute power – and a little extra healing for survivability (you and your phantasms can’t do dmg if ur dead, right?)

Random Disclaimer: This is my first time posting a build/guide. While i tried to keep everything as clear and concise as possible; there’s always room for improvement! I will do my best to be open and accepting to responses and critiques, just try to keep it constructive Also, this build was created for Tpvp. My computer sucks too much for WvW, and I haven’t PvE’d in ages so i have no idea how they’d work in those instances – but your more than welcome to try it out and share your experiences. As with all builds – YMMV.

Anyway without further ado – here’s a link to the build.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAR8al4zipXUTlGb9IxZGQ35keo6Uv6yHwNA-ToAg0E1oqxVjpGZN2aGUsoYDB

Phantastic Mantras – Quick and dirty breakdown

As i’ve stated, the idea behind this build is to pump out as much damage as possible (through phantasms) while staying alive long enough for to outlast your opponent. Basically your phantasms hit like a mack truck, and you have healing for days.

Why Phantasms?

Simply put, most pvpers have figured out the many ways to find the ‘real’ mesmer amongst his clones/phantasms. As a result, our clones/phantasms are often ignored and the ‘real’ mesmer gets tunneled. Welp, why not make our phantasms a force to be reckoned with? We have enough mobility, avoidance (and heals – with this build) to stay alive, while our phantasms just wreck stuff.

Why Mantras?

The general concensus seems to be that mantras suck, right? They’re generally unintuitive, they have slow charge times, are easily interrupted, have long cooldowns, and casting one is like holding a big “hit me!” or “interrupt this!” sign over your head. While these are valid complaints, this build synergizes with mantras very, very well – and dare i say, it even makes them “Phantastic!”. With numerous stabilities, stealths, and a smart playstyle (knowing when it’s safe to cast), you can easily cast most of your mantras, without fear of interruption.
Traits: 30/15/0/25/0 (III,X,XI / II / IV, X)

30 Domination – “I have the POWERRRRR!!!” – seriously though; brute force – take all the power you can get! The condi-duration is nice too.

- Empowered Illusions – Illusions deal 15% more damage…. uh, duh!

- Greatsword training – Increased power(50) while wielding a greatsword. Reduces recharge on greatsword skills. – More power is always nice. Faster cooldown on iZerker as well as the other GS skills (including knockback) are shortened.

- Harmonious Mantras – Mantras can be activated three times before needing to be channeled again. – This is a mantra build, so yes, yes, yes. 3 Stabilities are awesome, and 3 heals (technically 4) help with that survivability thing i mentioned earlier.

15 Dueling – “En garde” – I just like to watch them bleed… >=]

- Phantasmal Fury – Your phantasms have fury. – Big dps boost – duh.

- Side note – 15 pts into dueling for sharper images (Illusions inflict bleeding on crits) – Your phantasms will crit, A LOT. The extra dps from bleeds works nicely with the 30pts we sunk in domination, for condi-duration. And the random crits from your clone(s) are a nice bonus.

25 Inspiration – “Such….Synergy!” – the +vitality and +healing is nice too.

- Menders Purity – Remove a condition when you heal. – Ahh conditions. The bane of mesmers world-wide. Conditions will always be a problem for us, but this build makes them less of a problem. You have 3 condition removals – soon to be 6* in the next patch! On a 10 second cooldown. This skill isn’t a game-changer, but it does help an awful lot. Keep in mind, conditions are removed FILO and LIFO – take that, and run with it.

- Restorative Mantras – Heal Allies when you cast a mantra. – Healing for you, your party, and your phantasms (2,662) when you charge your mantra. This makes your mantra of recovery grant 4 heals for around 2700 each. Just do it, trust me.

- Side note – 25 pts into Inspiration for Phantasmal Strength (phantasms deal 15% more dmg) PHANTASMS HIT HARDER! nuff said.

Skills

- Mantra of Recovery – Ahh, MoR – the bread and butter of this build. As i’ve stated, our mantras add a lot of survivability and synergize very well with our traits/skills. For example, Mantra of Recovery gives us – 2,662 + (2,744 × 3) = 10,894 hp (+3 condition removals) on a 10 second cooldown. This mantra is your new best friend, use it often!

- Blink – The mobility is great. Can be used as a gap closer/creator. Can* be casted while charging mantras. And the stunbreak is just icing on the cake.

- Decoy – Another stun break, and a 3 second stealth – more than enough time to re-cast that mantra of concentration, or summon a phantasm without projecting the cast (i.e. prompting your opponent to dodge). The possibilities are endless.

- Mantra of Concentration – MoC is another necessity. Yes! another* stunbreak (3 more, technically)This is the glue that holds our ‘mantra’ build together. You have 3 casts of a 2 second stability. Being that mantra cast times are about 2.75sec, you want to charge your mantra of recovery (or mass invis) first* before covering the cast with stability. Stability also grants you a sure-stomp, or gives your teamate a sure-stomp. Dont be selfish, if you see a teamate going for a stomp, run by them, cast a stability, and get the heck outta there.

- Mass invisibility – A nice group stealth with a somewhat long cast time (cover with stability if needed). Adds a bit of support to the build. It’s not the greatest spell in our kitten nal, but i’ve saved countless lives with a well timed MI followed by a stability-fueled revive. Again, don’t be selfish, help your teamates out.

Weapons

Now you have some options here. Personally I’ve found GS/sword+pistol to put out the most damage/pressure in most fights. The knockback and stun can also help when finishing an opponent off. You could swap GS for Scepter+Sword if you’re fighting a melee heavy team. The double block, torment and confusion, works very nicely against melee. But just remember to swap out “Greatsword training” in Domination for something/anything, if you do.

Why Greatsword?

Lots of damage, an aoe phantasm with a whirl finisher, aoe knockback, and most importantly – ranged damage. While you will have great healing with this build, you do not want to take unnecessary damage. Also, this allows you to stay away from your phantasms so they dont take unnecessary aoe/spash damage. Your phantasms are a big bulk of your damage – keep them alive.

Why sword+pistol?

Stun/daze/blind in a single shot. iDuelist is just awesome and conveniently stays at range, to avoid dmg. A very nifty (albeit, buggy) immobilize with iLeap, which helps with those annoying dodge spammers. And blurred frenzy for a quick invlunerability and moderate damage.

Why scepter+sword?

iSwordsman hits hard and fast. You have 2 blocks, one that gives a torment, and another that counter-attacks for moderate damage. Confusing Images is a little awkward, but we can forgive it – due to its damage potential (and most opponents tend to burn a dodge when they see it). And finally auto-attack, ether bolt hits fairly hard with a power build. But it’s still a very slow projectile, and the created clone on the 3rd attack can be annoying at times.

Runes/Sigils

Runes of Divinity x 6 – +60 to all stats, and +12% crit dmg for you and your phantasms. Sounds good to me.

Sigil of Air/Fire x 2 – Procs fairly often, and adds to your potential burst.

Sigil of Bloodlust – Getting kills won’t be a problem for you. Just play smart, and enjoy that bonus +250 power.

Final Thoughts.

A wise man once told me “Mantras are like seasoning. You wouldn’t make a meal out of cumin and thyme; but, when used sparingly, they can bring out the best flavors of a particular dish.” – Pyroatheist.

That being said, this build ‘peppers’ in the use of mantras, without ‘over-seasoning’ and ruining the build. However, the 2 mantras we use are both paramount for making the build functional. Get used to casting your mantras. I know they’re easy to forget at first, but with this build – your going to want to use them as much as possible.

Your playstyle is basically – summon your phantasm(s), and try to avoid as much damage as possible. Your phantasms will do a large chunk of your damage, so summon as often as you can (about every 10 seconds) and remember* to stay away from them, so they don’t die to aoe. Start fights with mantras your charged, and remember to cover your MoR recasts with stability. You should generally get a kill, before you need to recharge mantra of concentration.

Phantasm builds don’t really need to use shatters. But they can be effective in certain situations: F1 – wont do much damage, but can help you get the kill on a very low hp target. F2 – No, just no. F3 – the daze is nice for interrupts or helping you push a kill. F4 – sure stomp or safe cast for MoR when MoC is on cooldown.

So in conclusion, that’s the build. Try it out and let me know what you think!

<Reserved, cuz i can>

This is a pretty strong build. It’s got strong phantasm offense and actually pretty good sustain with the mantras (especially considering the mender’s purity buff). I’d be interested in seeing some videos of this build in action, particularly in a team environment.

@Pelswick, were you the one I dueled the other night in the OMFG arena? Couldn’t remember the person’s name, but the build is looking very familiar. The constant healing and condition cleansing had me in fits (not to mention the beating from the phantasms).

@Pyro, I’m definitely planning to get some footage of this build in the next month or so. Probably around christmas, when i get a break from school. And the timing should work out nicely, with the upcoming patch.

@skcamow, yessir, that was me (mewduo). Great duels btw! Hit me up the next time you open the arena; I could always use more practice ;D

Thx for the comments guys, lets keep ’em coming!

I ship! This will be my next mesmer! <3

Pelswick.9218:

@skcamow, yessir, that was me (mewduo). Great duels btw! Hit me up the next time you open the arena; I could always use more practice ;D

I’ll definitely hit you up if I’m in a dueling mood, which seems to be more and more lately.
Also, just FYI the arena is always open to OMFG members if anyone wants to go in and duel, train, theory-craft, or hang out at anytime. All you need is the password, which is in the guild message of the day.

Hi Pelswick,
Nice build. Solid phantasm build with a nice take on mantra.
Lots of stun-breakers and decent defense against conditions.
I will try a wvw version of this build. I also like the fact that this build is more trait-dependent than gear-dependent, which makes it easy for me to play around with my set of gear.

very nice build
took it to wvw variant with good critical chance and nice armor
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAR8al4zipXUTiGb9IxZGQ35keo6Uv6yH4NA-jEyAYfBZKCMRBgEBlALiGbFsIasabMVMRUtQAjmAA-w
duel a bit but havent had the chance to use moc yet beside stomping
but with almost every other mesmer build i still have problem with HGH condition engineer

i would like to know in general and with this build how to fight against signet warrior hammer +sw/shield.
i cant make enough clones and the dmg i do is nice but i cant do much sdps for long so he outheal my dmg while have 3 stun/kd skills

This build is so solid. Good stuff!

messiah.1908:

i would like to know in general and with this build how to fight against signet warrior hammer +sw/shield.
i cant make enough clones and the dmg i do is nice but i cant do much sdps for long so he outheal my dmg while have 3 stun/kd skills

Why are you trying to pump out clones?

It sounds like you’re trying to use this build as a shatter build…

If the warrior hits you with stuns/knockdowns, it means you’re not dodging well. That being said, this build has stunbreakers on stunbreakers. Use them.

The build looks pretty cool. And it will be even better when Menders Purity gets its buff.

Did you ever consider Staff or didn’t you like it because of the lower damage on the Phantasm? I found Staff to be pretty nice for Mantras because it has two skills which can be used while channeling (Phase Retreat, the poor mans Blink, and Chaos Armor). Chaos Storm also is pretty nasty when kiting.

messiah.1908:

i would like to know in general and with this build how to fight against signet warrior hammer +sw/shield.
i cant make enough clones and the dmg i do is nice but i cant do much sdps for long so he outheal my dmg while have 3 stun/kd skills

Hammer Warriors are pretty annoying for every Mesmer because they tend to instantly destroy your Illusions with area effects. Sw/Sh shouldn’t be a problem when you dodge properly or keep your distance (GS). Don’t pop too many clones since you rely on your Phantasm damage. Try to cast your Phantasms in different spots (iDuellist) so he can’t destroy them all at once. Kite and benefit.

This is the best kind of build. The kind that you may or may not run, but makes you think about things differently. Very well done!

the problem i have with this build is it hard to keep the distance between me and the warrior or any other melee
i tried to spread out the phantasms but the higher armor and regen with the constant pressure of the sw/sh and GS is overwhelming after 1 min fight even if i manage to dodge its stun skills . and when i finally put some pressure as i dodge/evade their rotation they tend to run away

i am sure i need more practice

i duel d/d ele and sc/d ele and it was fair fight score was 4:3 to me
i duel a shatter mesmer and he just eat me with all his shatter burst even if i manage to dodge/evade his final and second burst. all his stealth skills out played me so the score was 2:5 for him with 2 tie as my iduelist killed him while i was down
against random necro/thief/ranger it was pretty easy

pls put some video so i can learn more

Hey messiah, we’re planning a PvP weekend this .. um, weekend. If you’d like you can use this build against my Stun warrior and/or shatter Mesmer for some practice

Hi Pelswick,
Just want to check on you and your build since you originally showed interest in submitting this build for BotM.
Please check it out, will ya?!
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/OMFG-Build-of-the-Month-Contest-December/first#post3359119

tested this build in a few fractals and its fun!

During the runs i adjusted:
- Harmonious mantras to confounding suggestions for the better heal synergy
- GS Training to halting strike

Running Sw/Sw Sc/P, healmantra, dazemantra, blink and a situational utility. Tons of dazes, nice dmg, and the most important factor: its fun!

On top of that i slotted 6 mesmer runes.

I have to admit i fell in love with dom XII

I run a very similar build (30/10/0/30/0, focus traited instead of pistol, portal/MoP over blink/decoy) in all game modes and really like it.
I find similar things to messiah in spvp, hard to position well, but it allows some other fancy tricks:
Drop a portal and bounce between ends while recharging.
Drop a curtain, start recharge and only pull when needed.
Run faster, you have swiftness now.

In wvw roaming it thrives as you can easily outrange an enemy while recharging.