Guild Wars 2

I’ve played around a bit to figure out my play style, but I’d like opinions from those that know more about Mesmer’s than I do. Here’s my build so far. http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mVmmcc0zMMbaxoMbcxoaGapVcmacVM

One thing I was wondering is if Empowered Illusions makes Phantasms stronger and, if so, does it stack with Phantasmal Strength? If it doesn’t affect Phantasms I’ll probably put 5 more points into Duelist instead.

I’m also unsure about whether I want to use greatsword or staff, since I’m mainly wanting to use it for attacking from a distance and creating some clones.

Any opinions are appreciated.

Hi and wc to mesmer community

Looks like a solid Phantasm spec, if you learn to work around the phantasm misses on immunities dodges etc its a viable classic build even if I would recomend drop clone on dodge from dueling and get protection on renegation from chaos.

I let the phantasm mesmer specialist go into the deeps but sure try it out and mess around with the traits. Make sure u know whta you wnat your spec fpr, dps, support, pvp, pve (dungeons or farming) etc etc and its easier to help.

Some ppl will ask you for what gear you aim to use aswell, condition, tanky or dmg. With the staff, sword/p combo I would go for a mix of valkyre/knight with some berserker but thats me and Im sure others have other ideas.

/Osicat

Empowered Illusions affects Phantasms (in fact it pretty much only affects Phantasms since Clones do negligible damage: it’s a relic trait from Beta) and stacks with Phantasmal Strength.

My first question is: is this a PvP or a PvE build?

Regarding the build itself… firstly, why Deceptive Evasion? That’s a trait for Mind Wrack builds and Staff condition damage builds, while yours seem to be a Phantasm build. Doesn’t seem like you’d benefit much from spamming dodge Clones.

I personally wouldn’t take Master of Manipulation unless you really have nothing better to take. 6 seconds CD off Blink isn’t really worth a trait.

You’ve taken Glamour Mastery, but you have no Glamour skills?

Assuming this is a Phantasm build, my recommendations are: drop Deceptive Evasion and put another 5 points in Illusions for Compounding Power. Change Master of Manipulation to Illusionary Defence. Consider taking Phantasmal Fury.

If you don’t intend to invest in Crit Chance or get a second Dueling trait, drop Sharper Images too; although it’s probably worth keeping if you take Phantasmal Fury. If you do drop it, I’d probably invest 5 points in Chaos for Illusionary Membrane.

Good point on glamour Embolism, missed that totaly as i expected compounding clerety here, dint look tbh. Also I think Manipulation cd is a good trait but 3% less dmg/clone to be beter.

Thanks for the advice so far. I’d say I’m mainly wanting to use it for PvE and WvW, so I’m hoping I can make a character that is good at those two things.

I took your advice and changed some stuff, so I’ve now got this. http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mVmmcc0zMMbaxoMbcxoaGVpacmMVoc (not sure what I was thinking with some of my previous skill choices)

Not completely sure I want Phantasmal Fury over Illusionary defense, but I’m hoping giving up some defense will be worth it.

Cheers mate, well tbh in my opinion for a phantasm build Phantasm fury > blade training so you can always drop 5 in dueling and get fury on phantasm + 3% dmg reduction / illusion

/Osicat

Hey Nya! I think you’re probably touching on an interesting part of your build there, because 20 dueling leaves you a ton of different helpful options and none are more correct than the other. Pistol spec, sword spec, Desperate Decoy, P-fury and I-defense are all tremendous options there… Maybe it’s more a matter of trying them out and seeing which one you like best? I think the only weird mix would be Desperate Decoy in PvE, but then I’m sure some people actually keep it as a last-second way to shed aggro.

Signet of Illusions has an odd quirk, that the health bonus doesn’t kick in for a few seconds after the illusion is summoned (the jury is still out on how many seconds). That’s more in case you didn’t know already.

In general, though, your choice of utilities seems really sensible to me, particularly since this is an offense-leaning spec. It can be worth looking at a buff/debuff stripper (like arcane thievery or null field) if you find you’re getting hosed by conditions, or into glamours in general. As glamours go, since you already have a deep commitment in Inspiration, you could pick up traits along those lines, even a third one by moving the 5 points in Chaos over. Feedback, Null Field and (depending on who you ask) Veil can all be fun/handy in WvW because they’re fields with no limit in the number of targets they can affect. Even if you don’t run your whole spec around them, it’s sometimes nice to keep that idea in your back pocket.