Guild Wars 2

This thread to discuss clone aggro observations.

I’ve switch between various builds in PvE, and one thing that struck me as odd recently is that my clones tend to pull a lot less aggro when I use Sharper Images.

I ran with my GS/Sword/Focus [no SI] build for quite a lot of PvE farming (didn’t bother to respec after WvW), and I would get some mob aggro, typical, but my Clones would also draw a lot of fire. Mobs would also stop at Clones and try to beat them down prettykittenoften. I could go half or most of a fight without mobs looking cross-wise at me — or when they did, I could distract them with other Clones/Phantasms without too much hassle.

I recently respec’d and picked up Sharper Images due to various reasons, and I immediately noticed that mobs started beelining me a hell of a lot more than before.

Anyone have similar observations? Wonder if the bleed aggro is being attributed to the Mesmer?

Another separate thought: anyone noticed mob aggro trends with or without Signet of Illusions? Sometimes I used it, sometimes not. I think I’ll stick it back on tonight and see if that affects the aggro patterns.

Currently, I’m finding the way aggro works to be extremely puzzling. When I summon a clone (not a phantasm), technically, according to the game mechanics, i should no longer be targeted.

Following this assumption, especially if I’m no longer attacking the mob after wards, I would figure that it would go for my clones.

Most of the time the mob goes for me. I also noticed that a large portion of the time, my phantasms are taken out first, even if I’m doing more damage or there is a lull in their attacks.

I’m not entirely sure that the whole “stop targeting” feature of summoning clones is happening in PvE. I’ve even been attacked while using decoy and under stealth. Clone gets ignored and I’m attacked instead.

The major oddity i’ve seen is when I had 3 wardens up for the entire fight against the centaur boss in CM explorable. For whatever reason, the centaur never attacked my wardens. I kept shattering and bringing em back, but not once did he go for em.

Hm, I wonder if SI bleed ticks or other DOT sources are being attributed to the Mesmer immediately on Clone generation, thereby picking up aggro. E.g. not letting the Clone say hello upon spawning.