Guild Wars 2

Care to share your utility slot skill load out for solo pve assuming any of you are soloing in pve or have soloed in pve ?

I’m currently using Mirror Images Arcane Thievery Phantasmal Defender and Time Warp for my elite skill.

Forced to use Time Warp, that is the only one I have unlocked at the moment lol.

For average PvE its Enchanter, Defender, 50% HP and Timewarp. These are just my “default” skills, I vary them quite often depending on the situation. Why no stun breakers and such? So pointless when mobs need to be at least 5+ to even make your HP go down below 80%.

Also it depends on how you mean “soloing PvE”. Soloing Arah or soloing a group event/champion in a level 20 zone? Or just running through a zone killing a random wolf by accidentally sneezing at it? Yeah it doesnt require any utility slots.

Dawdler.8521:

For average PvE its Enchanter, Defender, 50% HP and Timewarp. These are just my “default” skills, I vary them quite often depending on the situation. Why no stun breakers and such? So pointless when mobs need to be at least 5+ to even make your HP go down below 80%.

Also it depends on how you mean “soloing PvE”. Soloing Arah or soloing a group event/champion in a level 20 zone? Or just running through a zone killing a random wolf by accidentally sneezing at it? Yeah it doesnt require any utility slots.

Soloing pve as in leveling up to 80 solo. And when you say " Enchanter" are you referring to Phantasmal Disenchanter ?

Thanks for the reply.

Mirrors\decoy depending on mood, blink and 3rd is based on what I’m going to do.
TW even in its nerfed stat is still handy on vets\champions.

you should be running all the useful ones and switch for x situation.

I like null field, feedback, and mirror image personally.

By default I use Blink, and 2 other utils depending on build.

Solo roam phantasm : Decoy, Disenchanter, Mass Invis
Group phantasm: Null field, Arcane thievery, Time Warp
Shattercat: Mirror Images, Arcane thievery, Mass invis
Glamor: Veil, Feedback, Null field, Time warp

Thorment.7945:

By default I use Blink, and 2 other utils depending on build.

Solo roam phantasm : Decoy, Disenchanter, Mass Invis
Group phantasm: Null field, Arcane thievery, Time Warp
Shattercat: Mirror Images, Arcane thievery, Mass invis
Glamor: Veil, Feedback, Null field, Time warp

Pretty much this, although if you’re Asura Pain Inverter works well in 1v1 scenarios for glamour/condition builds.

Changes constantly. There is no default loadout. Even in the same group in WvW, I change as often as the CDs come up. More so in PvE, ofc.

If I’m exploring a new area (meaning, no clue what to expect)
- PainMantra, MirrorImages, Blink

Since I’m focussed on surviving, MoP and Blink usually don’t leave my bar. The middle one will be switched depending on the situation. Feedback, iDisenchanter, iDefender and so on.

As elite skill … since I’m not leveling solo, but grouping dungeons, timewarp (and super rarely mass invis).

Skills I don’t use:

• Ether Feast – seriously … mantra
• Mirror (heal) & Mimic – gotta try both in asuran fractal shard. Should make me super reflector.
• Nullfield – for condi removal, I got traits; for boon removal is iDisenchanter better
• Veil – 2s invis for 90s CD …
• AThievery – high CD … same as nullfield. Only good point is stealing 30m+ boons
• Illusion of life – seriously … worst revival skill ever. Useless on bosses, doesn’t work on npcs (as every other does), most party members don’t know its ability and super high CD
• StabMantra – 2s stability … only in asuran fractal. As stun breaker I have blink
• DazeMantra – high CD for short daze … probably good for pvp/ wvw
• CondiMantra – I got removal on heal … enough
• CondiSignet – barely worth a slot. lowering clone spawn for condition damage seems odd, too. Active effect might work for pvp/ wvw
• 50%HPSignet – phantasms spawn with estimated 10 HP within the first second, instantly dying on any hit. Shortly after they got their original … what? 2k HP? Boosting it to 3k doesn’t help much either. And I’m not a shatterer for the active effect.
• RandomSignet – no, not even with “boon every 5s”
• BoonDurSignet – mesmer is a boon class ? Blind every 35s ?

Well, my two cents

It’s completely situational. For example, if you’re doing the Aquatic Ruins Fractal, Arcane Thievery + Signet of Inspiration is a must when fighting the giant jellyfish. 25 stacks of might for you and your party is a nice little boost ;-)

General PvE (and WvW), I find myself slotting Blink (traited for increased range) for getting around, with decoy for another stun break and Mantra of Resolve for condition cleanse. If doing a dungeon I usually swap Blink for Illusion of Life and Mantra of Resolve for Null Field.

Depends really, Null Field, Disenchanter, Defender, Timewarp, Arcane Thievery(depends on boss) for dungeons. For leveling/node farming, anything that allows me to drop aggro andmove/skip area’s fast, decoy, blink, mass invis. If need to kill, mirror images (shatter build). I mostly do WvW though, and there it’s either glamour build (veil, portal, null field, feedback) or shatter build (blink, mirror images, decoy), depending on what enemies I encounter that day and our own group layout.

Most notably I recently switched from Etherfeast to Mirror. The lower cooldown offsets the smaller heal, it reflects projectiles during the heal which is pretty awesome and it works better with Centaur runes (which I sometimes use) since you can just use it more often. Having run with it for about 6 weeks now, I will never go back.

Blink and Decoy, the 3rd slot is variable.

I’m usually slotting either Signet of Inspiration or Null Field. Feedback when dealing with bigger groups.

/edit: Depending on my job in the group sometimes i’m also swapping out Decoy for Veil/Portal.

Iavra.8510:

Blink and Decoy, the 3rd slot is variable.

While I see meaning with Blink (you can move faster when traversing the world), I fail to see the point of Decoy.

What’s peoples logic behind it? Its not like NPCs care if you stealth a couple of seconds. Mirror Images for example would be more effective since it give you 2 for 1, more shatter damage for near equal cooldown (well 5 secs more). Or one could have a phantasm giving damage, damage reduction/condition removal on 1/3rd the cooldown.

(for PvP/WvW its a whole other matter, but this thread was about PvE)

The stealth from Decoy allows you a safe heal/mantra charge/rezz/ect.

I tend to find myself often picking Blink & Feedback. Sooo many enemies have projectiles to reflect, and the Ethereal Field-Chaos Armor it provides is another decent method of gaining swiftness (the potential regeneration also works really well in my build)

Chaos Archangel.5071:

The stealth from Decoy allows you a safe heal/mantra charge/rezz/ect.

I’d have to disagree with that. On paper this skill is great, but when you use it, you’ll see the difference.

Decoy makes you invisible and spawns a clone at your position. Melee attacks hit you due to aoe. Projectiles might still hit you.
Mirror Images + F3/F4 is far more reliable (for survival) than Decoy. And yes, you can do it WHILE channeling mantras or ressing.

Decoy is a runaway skill. Probably useful in 1vs1 situations.

It changes a lot. I do always have blink though. Usually I have nullfield, decoy, blink and timewarp. Sometimes I switch out nullfield or decoy for feedback when the situation calls for it.

To answer the above, decoy has helped me and my group easily pass by the trash in dungeons. They follow close behind me, I hit decoy and the clone runs into the trash and even a distraction that small for those few seconds makes a difference. Then I can just dodge roll, blink ahead of them and set up veil. Very handy for PUGs in TA.

Or to shake aggro when you have 700 hp left and 3 seconds left on ether feast during a boss.

Nretep.2564:

Chaos Archangel.5071:

The stealth from Decoy allows you a safe heal/mantra charge/rezz/ect.

I’d have to disagree with that. On paper this skill is great, but when you use it, you’ll see the difference.

Decoy makes you invisible and spawns a clone at your position. Melee attacks hit you due to aoe. Projectiles might still hit you.
Mirror Images + F3/F4 is far more reliable (for survival) than Decoy. And yes, you can do it WHILE channeling mantras or ressing.

Decoy is a runaway skill. Probably useful in 1vs1 situations.

I see your point, but I feel that’s debatable. You can use Decoy on the move, so if you have Swiftness or Blink, or both, you should still be able to avoid damage.

To use Mirror Images + F3 or (more safely)F4 means you have to blow a lifesaving shatter and a utility skill. If you’re not specced into the Illusion tree, the 60 second cooldown could screw you in the long run.

I’d rather Decoy + Dodge&Phase Retreat than Mirror Images + Distortion (And wouldn’t use the Daze with Mirror Images unless I had no other clone-producing choice), but it also depends on the situation.

Mirror images, blink, and feedback.

Time warp is my elite.

I’m too used to : Blink, Null Field, Signet of Inspiration, Time Warp.
Dungeon situation : Feedback, Null Field OR Phantasmal Desenchanter, Decoy, Time Warp.

Changes constantly.

On land
- Decoy, Mimic

Underwater
- Decoy, Mirror Images

I change the third utility fairly often, mainly with SoI underwater and either Pain Inverter (asura), Blink, Arcane Thievery, or Mirror Images on Land.

Elite is mostly Mass Invisibility, because it has a great sound/visual effect (love the wave that travels into the distance), and very useful for additional stealth in pve when you just don’t want to engage something.
I also use the asura attack golem very often – it does a decent amount of damage, and provides an additional target that isn’t you.

As for mimic – it’s great with staff/GS and constant bouncing attacks for free 4s block/reflect while skills recharge. Plus I just like the animation and incredibly short cooldown.