Guild Wars 2

So generally speaking…the open world is pretty easy regardless. However, if you don’t find it that way, then mesmer/chronomancer is the absolute worst pick. You’d be better off with warrior or revenant.

Heya!

No the metabattle build is pretty bad for open world.

I made you a great open world build wich uses gear you can also perfectly use later in raids, fractals or dungeons:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAs+cnsIClohtfCmfCEgiFVjqsDKhBoOZn2qlMAGhiD-TRCBQBB4BAcGlgVSdFAu/woUpgBnAAso8DAHEg8oXAA-e

Also get yourself a staff if you need range and please please please do not touch the GS!

Greez!

Xyonon.3987:

I made you a great open world build wich uses gear you can also perfectly use later in raids, fractals or dungeons:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAs+cnsIClohtfCmfCEgiFVjqsDKhBoOZn2qlMAGhiD-TRCBQBB4BAcGlgVSdFAu/woUpgBnAAso8DAHEg8oXAA-e

Also get yourself a staff if you need range and please please please do not touch the GS!

Greez!

Is this build any good if you mostly solo? Doesn’t seem like it would be. I have no interest in zerging and alacrity seems to me to be pretty darn weak, at least when solo.

Heya,

It’s probably the “best” solo “base” build. Sure you should modify it a bit according to the encounter, like feedback instead of action against for example the itzel hero point south west of verdant brink, or you can also use the illusionary disenchanter against the troll in tangeled depths or well of precognition against chack lobber in auric basin. It’s not for teamplay tough (the stats are, the traits and utilites aren’t)!

Just because your buffs are aoe, it doesn’t mean you have to be zerging look at the bright side – if you are solo, alacrity will affect yourself AND your pantasms. Alacrity is very powerful for yourself aswell, for every skill but your auto attack it basicly means 25% less CD (33% more uptime).

The shield is used for blocking and tanking in dangerious situations, it’s phantasm deals rather low damage but it’s shatter food easily reproduced.
Tides of Time is a great damage skill against bigger foes and wrecks defiance bars wich is a very underrated thing to do. Broken bars result into a 50% dps increase for a short time, people seem to be forgetting that or just ignore it.
The sword block and phantasm are just better than the pistol skills and you want some great dps boosts.
If you are facing a superior opponent like Balthazar, Vampire or Lobber, you can use a staff for a clean escape and a good dps phantasm (careful reflects). Remember that the clone of staff 2 now can bodyblock since HoT!!! Very powerful!

Replace auto attacks with Mantra of Pain in general but do NOT interrupt your 3rd aa chain (aa chain willl not reset if you charge your mantra while under the effect of quickness).

Yea that’s about it Always happy to help buddy!

Greez!

When push comes to shove though, there are no mesmer builds that excel at open world soloing. The build Xyonon posted is fine for soloing, as fine as any build is. It’s just a fact of life that a large part of the mesmer toolkit is built around buffing and supporting, not personal capability.

I have to disagree with you on that one.

Ofc Chrono is build around supporting, but in raids or fractals the personal damage is only low because you chose it to be.

Chrono has awesome personal solo capabilities, he’s only lacking in might generation but we’ve got quickness and alacrity so that’s pretty even. Specific solo builds can excel at open world soloing.

I always cry if I see a Chrono soloing with SoI or GS in melee or using a focus against 0 projectile using enemies. You feel the difference, not later than when meeting the Chak.

Hey OP,

I can still recommend my builds in my signature. They might have taken a bit of a hit with the last nerfs (like the whole chronomancer) but they still get the job done.

I do not recommend a pure melee build for several reasons:

- GS is great burst damage
- getting into melee takes time
- you want to stay mobile and still do damage
- many mobs have nasty melee attacks, chak poison will totally get you out of battle if unlucky with a melee setup
- more AoE
- it is super easy to solo many hero points with a GS
- instead of worrying about blocking or evading attacks, just do damage
- etc.

Go solo with a GS even in melee with my build(s). Most of the time it is more efficient than using or switching to a sword as a chronomancer in open world.

But hey, I won’t tell you that I am right, just give it a try and decide by yourself.

I actually think Mesmer is pretty excellent for solo open world. Where it lacks a little is fighting mobs with lots of health (some of the Nuhoch enemies in HoT are a little troublesome) since DPS over time isn’t too great, but otherwise I find it very strong.

I run a power build with Sword/Focus or Sword/Shield + Greatsword. Sword is definitely your best friend in open world, due to it having the highest DPS of power Mesmer, and having a pretty excellent low-cooldown blur. Greatsword has awesome burst and pretty good AoE. Best not to camp it since its DPS is rather low, but it is your best power DPS in ranged, for sure. Its AA is ideal at long range, and the rest of the abilities (#2 and #5 in particular) are better at close range.

For utilities, I take Well of Eternity, Well of Action, Well of Recall, Well of Camality, and Gravity Well (though you can swap one or two wells with other useful/situational utilities like Feedback, Mimic, Blink, Portal, etc). The wells are great AoE, and the alacrity/quickness helps a lot. If you take Runes of the Chronomancer (which I’d heavily recommend) and Seize the Moment, you’ll be getting very high quickness uptime, which feels awesome. Don’t bother using Signet of Inspiration in solo open world if you’re a Chronomancer by the way. The Time Marches On trait gives you more than enough speed. SoI is invaluable for its active, even as a Chronomancer, but it’s an active you’ll find very little use out of in open world.

You use Gravity Well and Focus #4 to group enemies together, and Continuum Split ideally with three illusions out so you have enough time to cast all your wells. The wells provide pretty great AoE, and you can do things like immobilise mobs inside them with Sword #3, cripple all the mobs with Greatsword #4, or facetank the mobs inside the wells with Shield #4 and Sword #2.

As for traits, I’d recommend Illusions – Dueling – Chronomancer, with something like 1-1-2 (or 2-1-2) in Illusions, 1-1-3 (or 1-2-3) in Dueling, and 3-3-2 in Chronomancer. Deceptive Evasion is super handy for open world. The clone generation is great for shatters. Make sure to shatter often. Feel free to take Inspiration if you need that extra defence (the Inspiration trait line and Harmonious Mantras go REALLY well together with the heal mantra). Inspiration is also handy with Focus for perma reflects whenever they’re useful. If you ever need stealth, taking Mass Invisibility, Mimic, Decoy, Torch, The Pledge (trait in Illusions), and Prismatic Understanding (Trait in Chaos) gives you stupidly high stealth uptime with alacrity.

Hope that helped.

There seems to be a lot of different opinions on how mesmer does in open world. Avoid GS. Use GS. Avoid melee. Use melee.

Is there any consensus on what IS actually strong or weak with mesmer in open world? I finally got mine to 80 and have been deciding if I actually want to work on them in open world content through HoT and map completion.

erebuss.5294:

There seems to be a lot of different opinions on how mesmer does in open world. Avoid GS. Use GS. Avoid melee. Use melee.

Is there any consensus on what IS actually strong or weak with mesmer in open world? I finally got mine to 80 and have been deciding if I actually want to work on them in open world content through HoT and map completion.

So I can guarantee you that mesmer is inferior in the open world compared to most professions, but it still can do fine (it’s just open world after all).

GS = long range power damage with a splash of aoe. Aoe is good, long range power damage is good. However, if you want to get up and melee something, gs is bad.

Mainhand Sword = close range power damage with some defensive utility and cleave. Cleave is good, defensive utility is good, power damage is good. If you want to be close and meleeing something, sword is the best choice.

Staff = long range ? damage with a (very small) splash of aoe. Staff also has the strongest ranged power phantasm. If the only thing you care about is the phantasm damage, then staff is fantastic. If you actually want to deal damage with your weapon, staff is not a good choice.

Shield = massive multitarget aoe damage with an ok phantasm. This is generally speaking our best offhand due to the aoe potential and utility.

Focus = swiftness + good aoe phantasm. If you don’t yet have the 25% chrono passive, you’re gonna want a focus for swiftness, but ditch it once you get the 25% passive.

Pistol = single target dps. Not worth taking in open world.

Offhand Sword = single target dps. Also not worth taking in open world.

Scepter = single target condie dps. Probably not your best option, even if you’re doing a condie build.

Thanks Fay, that’s pretty handy info. Any suggestions on a build for open world/map completion?

erebuss.5294:

Thanks Fay, that’s pretty handy info. Any suggestions on a build for open world/map completion?

So the top priorities for open world map completion are moving fast, tagging at long range, and aoe damage. Towards that end…

GS + sw/shield, taking blink.

If you haven’t got the 25% passive for chrono unlocked yet, use focus instead of shield until you do, then put shield back on. I’d recommend taking domination and chrono for 2 trait lines. The third depends on how hard you want to invest into movement. You can take chaos for master of manipulation to drop that blink cooldown for sweet sweet blink speed. You could take illusions for good general utility, or you could take dueling to squeeze out some more damage.

Or you use a staff and blink every 10s with U-turn, #2, U-turn.

For PvP my daughter uses an offensive non crono hybrid build. Staff + sword/sword.
Totally easy illusion build. Your criters deal massive damage and take the beating too.
This is a solo build for map completion and chilled paly. It works WvW roaming too. Condi removal should be added there. A generosity sigil and a discencanter as option. Its not aplicable for PvP.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAW8cnsICFohdoBWoBMrhFVDCtLp5KldoEbjMAjo4A-ThCFABmrbQ5HAgAXAg33fAgDCgVKNC4IAsi6P+pEkJlZBAQAYn78o78o7MA-e