Guild Wars 2

So I see a lot of posts around here for different WvW builds, but (obviously) all of them are aimed for 80s.

My Mesmer is just about level 30, and I want to spend a good amount of time leveling in WvW. Obviously I won’t have access to all my traits right away, so I was wondering if there were any builds/guides out there on WvW for the lower level characters.

Most mesmer WvW builds depend heavily on traits that you won’t have access to until later. Things get a little better at 40 when you can spec 0/20/0/0/5 for the clone on dodge and reduced illusion cool-down traits.

At low levels you should be gearing for power as your main damage stat and stack as much vitality/toughness as you need to stay alive. You’re still going to be very squishy, so try to stay back and man siege weapons when you can.

Some advice to add.

Stick with a group. Use focus as offhand to get some swiftness, if you stay close, others will buff you as well. Curtain can also be useful to pull people in group v group situations.

Use a staff. Chaos storm is a great combo field and chaos armor helps with surviving. Phase retreat can help with running by selecting a target before using it.

Using CC is the best thing you can do anyway. Your damage will suck, your survivability will be laughable. Try and contribute by using smart utilities like null field, veil and portal. Elite should be time warp. Good thing mesmers have such awesome utility. You can actually add a lot at such a low lvl.

And get blink. This will help you to stay in the back of huge fights.

Good luck!

Thanks for the advice!

Kinda unfortunate that is what we’re limited to at low levels, but I also know it changes when I get more traits, so I’ll deal for now. A few more specific questions though:

I love the idea of portal, but I’ve had a hard time finding really good uses for it in unorganized zergs. Should I be trying to organize portal bombs, or should I just use it as an escape utility off of cliffs, in the back of fights, etc?

Same goes for veil. Do you just drop it at the front of zergs, or do you find yourself using it on yourself more often? If the latter, I’d imagine sticking to Decoy would make more sense.

Thanks again for the advice, it’s much appreciated.

First, find an organized group on your server, you’ll have way more fun. Most servers have a server website and a public team speak or mumble. For instance, the YB website is yaksbend.com and our mumble is linked from that site. Your server’s website should give you the tools to find a group to work with. Things like portal bombs, veil, don’t work except with an organized force. Running with a group is the only way to lvl in wvw since its going to be your best bet for taking objectives and therefore getting xp. If you don’t want to coordinate with people just follow the Zerg and don’t worry about your utilities other than whatever helps you stay alive.

Makes sense. Unfortunately my server doesn’t seem to have a website (I’m on Gates of Madness). Looks like I had the unfortunate circumstance of choosing a very poor WvW server.

Might have to suck it up and transfer if I want to WvW more

Oh well, there’s bound to be some wvw focused guilds on your server. Maybe try asking in map chat on the various BL and EBG to kinda see what’s what.

Veil is most effective when you can drop it at the front of the zerg. If you find yourself at the front of the zerg, you can quickly swap one of your utilities for Veil before engaging. It can double as an escape tool if necessary, but Decoy tends to make a better defensive option for small group roaming because of the stun-breaker property and lower cool-down.

Portal is a lot more effective with an organized group using voice chat. People avoid taking portals from strangers, and for good reason.

For now, I’d recommend that you start with Blink/Null Field/Feedback as your utility skills and Time Warp as your elite. This will help you work on your positioning and AoE placement as you learn the ropes. As you get more comfortable, swap in Veil or Portal to experiment with in the appropriate situation.