I’m always on the lookout for creative new builds, and in fishing through the traits, I was wondering why anyone hadn’t tried working a viable build around the Daze condition.
I’m stuck on the gear/runes for such a build, but the concept is simple enough. Its a shatter-heavy build that uses Dazes/Shatters to stack Vulnerability on foes while simultaneously buffing yourself. I went with Sword/Sword because sword clones stack Vuln while offhand sword has a nice quick Daze that hits multiple targets, and Imbued Diversion for AoE Daze (And 50% Stun) per clone to disrupt large groups. Staff has great defenses, and Chaos Storm can proc another AoE Daze/Stun. Unfortunately Counter Blade is bugged and doesn’t benefit from Confounding Suggestions.
The idea is still in it’s infancy but I’d appreciate some constructive advice/ideas. I feel like with a few tweaks, this could work rather well.
I drafted a similar build awhile back, but didn’t bother finishing it because I don’t run team-focused builds.
Couple immediate comments:
1: Confounding suggestions is bad. Don’t do it prz.
2: Your illusion generation is rather low. You do not have IP or DE to make up for it (or GS+Staff which is relatively the fastest illusion generation). A key piece of your build is wide AOE Daze and you even have the Signet to do it twice. You need some method of accelerated illusion generation or else you’re wasting the potential shatter output.
It’s also important to note (for people that play with IP too much) that in order to even use the shatters effectively, you will need some rapid clone generation on demand, so Scepter+Sword [while being attacked] will probably not even be fast enough.
3: Phantasmal Haste has no place in this build.
4: You need some coherent method of damage output. Knight’s is an “eh” hybrid and you have no precision synergy in the build (e.g. no Sharper Images and no crit damage%). I would suggest an immediate change to Soldier, or revising the build in general to a condition damage build (Elasticity + Rabid/Carrion/Shaman WTB CDMG/vit/tough hurhurhur OP lols).
Note that regardless of what you do, the stacked Daze/CC in the build basically means you will have substantially less personal damage output than a normal build, making it group-reliant no matter what you do.
5: With this many Dazes in the build, use Runes of the Mesmer plx.
6: Related to #1 and #2, you can switch 10 points from Dom to Dueling to pick up DE so you have illusions to use for Diversion as well as maintaining AOE vuln with other shatters.
7: Other utility abilities to consider for evalution: Signet of Domination, Mirror Images, Blink as always.
Sidenote: With the mechanics of this build, I think a side-suggestion of considering Distortion-on-Signet and Signet cooldown reduction and 2x Signets (Illu and Dom) would be interesting.
E.g. Blurred Frenzy -> SigDom -> Diversion -> Distortion -> SigIllu -> Blurred Frenzy -> Diversion -> Distortion -> Blurred Frenzy -> Illusionary Invigoration -> Diversion -> Distortion -> Blurred Frenzy -> SigDom -> Blurred Frenzy -> SigIllu ->
Because you don’t have enough Dazes, Stuns, and Distortions already. With random dodge rolls mixed in. Note: if possible, figure out some way to insert Vigor into the build so you can have the most un-killable chain CC + invuln/dodge Mesmer imaginable. Additional trolling with Mass Invis is a bonus.
Edit: In retrospect, trait slots invested for 1s invulns on a ~30s (15s) cooldown are probably not totally worth it since they generally synchronize in time with you using other CC/defensive measures (e.g. the stun on SigDom, so who gives a kitten about the 1s distortion).
Edit:
Last trait in Illusion can be swapped to IP for non-teamfights obv.
Edit:
Definitely a fun build concept to try out. Rotating CC and defenses could be pretty kitten fun. I would definitely recommend “learning” the build with IP instead of AOE diversion. The AOE diversion part would be a second step of learning (e.g. removing IP as a crutch), and group situations occur less often anyways.
(edited by EasymodeX.4062)
EasymodeX, I’m sending you a Christmas Card this year. Maybe even an Easter Basket.
Those are all really good points, and I’m really liking your Signet idea, so I’ve revised the build to something like this.
Problem is, like you said, I’m still lacking in clone generation.. Which makes me wish we could swap Elites with another utility. And damage-wise, perhaps condition damage would work better with all these dazes/defenses.
It seems I have to choose between Signets and Clone utilities. As for the Amulet, wouldn’t Soldier’s give me even less damage output?
Edit: Is Confounding Suggestions REALLY that bad? An AoE stun seems so awesome in my imagination..
Daze is the better 80% of a stun, and the RNG is 50%. Stuns are better than Dazes, but not by a whole hell of a lot. It’s a matter of preference though. Try it both ways.
The bottom line is “what are you losing to get the last 10 points in Dom and slotting the trait”. Wastrel’s Worry is vaguely ok. However 10 points can be invested into a couple good options — chief among them being Deceptive Evasion.
On stats:
Soldier is power primary (pretty sure it’s the same on sPvP gear). Power is better than Precision by a decent margin unless you have a lot of crit chance synergy. Unless you have some sort of precision synergy, Soldier should do around as much DPS as Knight (especially the sPvP Knight which has Toughness as primary and both DPS stats as secondary — PvE Knight is PREC/tough/pow).
I’m really liking your Signet idea, so I’ve revised the build to something like this.
http://www.gw2build.com/builds/simulator.php#1.8.3.7.14.14.0.0.0.0.180.184.186.188.205.3.10.34.529.531.0.544.548.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.591.589.597.20.20.0.0.30
It’s a fun idea, but in all reality it’s probably not worth it — two traits spent in juicy spots on Blurred Inscriptions and Masterful Reflection are pretty depressing.
Sidenote: on the concept of Knight’s; Sharper Images and the Vigor trait in Dueling may be enough to make it worth it. Something to manually test out in sPvP.
Taking that into account, I’ve developed a Condition Damage variant.
The only problem I’m having with this is that I’ve never been too fond on Condition Damage on a Mesmer, and without runes it seems the CD is a bit on the just-below-acceptable side (That Daze Duration is boss though), but I’ll test both tonight though.
I’m thinking CD may actually be the way to go.
Signet Mastery not useful for only 1 Signet without other synergies. Boon strip is much better and is key for wearing down opponents (stripping regen, vigor, and particularly Stability).
Stripping stability is probably a core piece of this build.
I played around with a daze heavy build and would have liked it a lot – except I’m lousy at interrupting.
I did find confounding suggestions to be a useful addition, except in pve. A dazed monster will hang out while you wail on it, after the first couple rounds a human will get the hint and run away – daze won’t help you catch him.. When half of those dazes turn to stuns, you can keep up, and your opponents level of frustration goes even higher.
My mantra build relies a lot on dazes and timing dazes well with the 3x daze from mantra, shatter and pistol dazes:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Video-Guide-Mantra-Burst-Heal-Build-PvX
I’ve seen your thread, and while I myself enjoy Mantras, I wouldn’t wanna deal with that headache in sPvP ontop of managing the dazes/stuns.
I’ve done a lil testing last night and got some interesting results, definitely see potential here but I can’t say for sure until I get more practice in. Still trying to pick a good defensive ability (Blink/Decoy/Mirror Images). I’ve only tried the condition damage spec though for now. Nailing 25 stacks of Vulnerability is surprisingly easy. And the stun/daze AoE Vulnerability is hell on enemy groups.
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