Guild Wars 2

Hello community,

the title says it all: Im in a tpvp guild that is in dire need of a close point holder and I am the one going to fill this role, no matter what. I know that there are classes better suited for this currently, but thats not the topic of this thread.

So far, Ive been using a 20/20/30/0/0 condition build with prismatic understanding with limited success: while I have been able to annilihate my foes in most 1v1 and could stay alive in many 1v2 until help arrived, I could never prevent the point being neutralized even in 1v1 due to the long times I had to stay in stealth with this build.

Im thinking of a defensive phantasm build with staff/sword+sword, knights amulet, 10/10/30/20/0; including idefender, but Im unsure if there are better builds. Im also very unsure about the use of a traited focus for that purpose, because I could only cast iwarden with any use when the opponent was inside the node.

Can anyone give me a good advice for a build that can hold a point without moving out, in an optimal case against 2 attackers?

Thanks in advance, and thanks to the community for all that great information found here during the last months (especially pyro, osciat and chaos!)

Mesmee is a poor bunker in PvP thanks to our poor condi cleanse and the fact we get our best defensive boons from stealth. My honest advice is use another class food bunkering until ANET tones down Condi spam or gives mesmers serious Condi removal love

I play PU with traited signets (20%, distortion, conditions) and Lyssa runes. Why ? Condition meta.

5 one condition removers, 1 all conditions remover that gives you all boon (the oh **** button then use Signet of Inspiration and give it to your allies). You also have 2 blind, a 3 sec stun, a protected stun breaker under distortion, nearly perma prot, regen, retaliation and lots of aegis. Without even talking about Blurred Frenzy, Distortion (Shatter). People laugh at the signet build, but give it a try. I’m no pro, but I didn’t have much problems with this build, except if I’m under full of conditions and there are perma stun warriors.

Phantasm build is good for point holding. iDesenchanter, iDefender, Signet of Illusion with Dwayna or Water runes.

Thanks for the reply. As I said, PU simply doesnt do the job, because of the point becoming neutralized every single fight.

The idea of playing with signets is interesting. I thought for condi remove traited null field would be best, because you can fight inside the field (though 32 sec is still a long CD) and additionally have a como field for staff #2 and sword#3. That and menders purity should hopefully do the job.
Im still unsure about the traited focus in a phantasm point holder build. On paper, it seems great because of reflection. But I just dont seem to be able to cast the iwarden on my (ranged) enemy inside the circle.

With longer and 20 % recharge on glamours, it can be good to use null field. Also, you can trait glamours to blind. With staff Chaos storm, you have 3 fields. If you take TW, you have 4. It means you can have many chaos armor.

If you go phantasm with staff, you’ll get prot on regen.
If you go Mantra of Recovery with Mender’s purity, you can get 2 or 3 (traited) condition remover.
I wonder if Mender’s Purity works with Restorative Illusions and Restorative Mantras ?

Focus with Into the Void can pull your enemies out of the point. You don’t need to trait focus imo.

Mensders purity only works with the #6 slot and not other traits that heak. And even with all that condi cleanse that’s about all your doing is Condi cleansing. Sadly from my exprierence against higher teams (AL),Pink etc. Even if you bunker your heart out as a mesmer you won’t out bunker even one Condi necro or spirit rangers damage. Tis a sad but true thing.

After having played around with the focus in small-area-fights (like in a point-defending situation), Im totally unsure about the following:

I try to cast temporal curtain, then start casting iwarden and in the middle of that cast pulling a foe into the curtain. What happens then is, that my enemy will be pulled to either -end- of the curtain, and the iwarden may spawn at a different location.
My plan would have been to immobilize the opponent after the pull+iwarden by ileap+swap. But that wouldnt work, if the iwarden isnt cast on him.
Am I doing s/t wrong here? Should I stick to sword offhand for point bunkering?

Insofar as a back point holder goes, there are quite a few various dueling builds that will work quite fine to eliminate anyone that comes to take it. The main issue comes with multiple people. A glassy build won’t cut it in a 1v2 where you need to restrict your mobility by staying on the point. There really aren’t any builds that will allow you to effectively bunker a point in a 1v2.

Krispera.5087:

Phantasm build is good for point holding. iDesenchanter, iDefender, Signet of Illusion with Dwayna or Water runes.

^
We’re not the most effective back bunker, but Dwanya runes with a good Phant build helps a lot.

kodesh.2851:

Krispera.5087:

Phantasm build is good for point holding. iDesenchanter, iDefender, Signet of Illusion with Dwayna or Water runes.

^
We’re not the most effective back bunker, but Dwanya runes with a good Phant build helps a lot.

I haven’t tried this, but thinking something with 30 in inspiration and at least 25 in illusions for the cooldowns, then the rest in chaos probably, taking defender, illusion sig, and disenchanter, with the focus traited and water runes (not Dwayna, you’ve already got permanent regen). You could potentially just bunker with the 3 phantasms warden, defender, and disenchanter for defense, condition removal, and condition removal, projectile defense. You might even take restorative mantras and the healing mantra.

I’ll try this out, if it works I might put up a guide.

I was actually thinking of s/t like this:

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-NZ-Fc;0VPk-1O7cVF71;9;499JT-2;01;039-147;2w01U;1rRnCrRnC3Nz

defense

— 18k health
—2,7k armor
— idefender (+20% health)
— blink
— illusionary defense (-3% dmg for every illusion)
— focus projectile deflection
— null field, menders purity
— 1,4k healing power
— water rune bonus 4 (5% chance: condition remove on being hit, 10s CD)
— phantasmal healing/illusionary membrane synergy – protection should last 3s with +30% boon duration
— staff boons with +30% duration
— 2x sigill of superior energy for additional dodges
— moa to lower pressure in 1vs2

offense

— image and iwarden with 2x +15% dmg and fury
— 2,8k power

Ive really becoming fond of playing with null field in close quaters. If you manage to stay inside for its duration youre probably not having any conditions on you; plus you get chaos armor through staff 2 and sword 3, plus melee opponents will get boons stripped of.

What do you think of the build?

Im going to try this in solo queuing (although I fear this is not going to show me the true story).
Any suggestions or different builds from you experienced players would be great!

Without consistent stability isn’t it a moot point as far as being able to stay inside the circle?

Regardless, why not go for the mantra heal and toughness traits combined with mimic and traited focus? You could also take the stability mantra as well. Also ret shield trait could work too.

Stability is not necessarily needed if you have stun breakers (although it certainly would be great to have) and not worth the utility slot in my opinion. Fighting a point assaulter engi will be tough nevertheless, no question about that.
I assume that mimic + traited focus is a bit over the top concerning reflection. You need on-point defense, too. Mantra heal for me is to unreliable to recharge in an intense 1v2.