Guild Wars 2

Nothing fundamental has been changed about PvE condie performance. It’s still the highest single target dps build for Mesmer, and it’s still mechanically limited to the extent of not being reasonably usable for most encounters.

The only thing I hate about condi is that you barely have support due to the signets. You can simply choose not to use them but that’s a huge damage loss again.

However condi Mes sure is amazing in high lv fractals since the armor is just too high to be dealt with with power only.

For raids only as the 2nd Chrono and then only for Sabetha, perma ranged so the Druid goes melee.

The scepter buff was very noticeable doing a 50(s) mid level Aetherblade fractal. Scepter is still good for only certain fights. Close in, sword is still king.

The sword deals only 15% more damage than the scepter if you CAMP it. If you swap to scepter for skill #3, do a few autos and then #3 again and swap back, you even have a small dps increase over the sword autohit. If you now use CS and all your stuff on the scepter, you’ll extrend this boost even more by not using any aa on the scepter, just #3 twice (3 times with CS) before swapping back to sword.

So it’s pretty good in MANY fights.

It’s worth noting that the sword is massively better defensively than scepter, particularly in fractals. There’s a ton of absurd and infuriating unblockable attacks in fractals. There are also some equally absurd undodgeable attacks, but those are far more rare.

I also have no idea how you figure that you have time to use CI during a buffing combo. With a 3 clone CS, there’s very little time left over after time warp, shield 5, 3 wells, and SoI. You could certainly use it afterwards, but you’re not going to get 3 casts of it.

As I mentioned before, I definitely don’t see the tiny dps boost as a compelling reason to add even more complexity to the rotation while losing access to a more potent defensive ability.

All that being said, this is the wrong thread for this discussion, as the op was asking about condie builds, not power builds using scepter. As I mentioned in the first reply, the scepter changes haven’t changed anything about how Mesmer condie builds function. All of the previous reasons that nobody uses them still exist without change, and I don’t really see those reasons changing at any point in the future unfortunately.

Fay.2357:

It’s worth noting that the sword is massively better defensively than scepter, particularly in fractals. There’s a ton of absurd and infuriating unblockable attacks in fractals. There are also some equally absurd undodgeable attacks, but those are far more rare.

What are those “ton’s of absurd unblockable attacks” you’re talking about? Jade Maw beam? o.O I can’t find them even if I try, at least not as many as you put it to be there so please – enlighten me.

You have scepter #2 every 4s wich is amazing, you can block tons of attacks, you still got a shield if its not enough and it’s not like you can’t dodge either. In the worst case you use F4, surviablity is not a valid argument …

Fay.2357:

I also have no idea how you figure that you have time to use CI during a buffing combo. With a 3 clone CS, there’s very little time left over after time warp, shield 5, 3 wells, and SoI. You could certainly use it afterwards, but you’re not going to get 3 casts of it.

Yea messed it up a bit, still just 2 with that unless you wait a few sec. Like “Confusing Image(CS)s” this. You now have it’s CD reduced to like 4s, wich is the CS duration you need for your rota. Ofc it’s a bit shorter if you use skills like feedback, wich is even better.

Still this thread is mainly about condi and using confusing images like this in the rotation is a nice dps boost.

Fay.2357:

As I mentioned before, I definitely don’t see the tiny dps boost as a compelling reason to add even more complexity to the rotation while losing access to a more potent defensive ability.

Let’s discuss this in the other thread, let’s keep this one for condi only

Fay.2357:

All that being said, this is the wrong thread for this discussion, as the op was asking about condie builds, not power builds using scepter. As I mentioned in the first reply, the scepter changes haven’t changed anything about how Mesmer condie builds function. All of the previous reasons that nobody uses them still exist without change, and I don’t really see those reasons changing at any point in the future unfortunately.

Agreed, it’s about condi. And to support this, there are plenty of arguments that support condi play since the patch:

• scepter autohit got it’s aftercast reduced
• scepter no longer gets slower on range
• scepter #2 has recieved a massive damage boost and is now insta cast, wich makes it a great way to block many attacks. With alacrity you have it up every 4s, wich is enough to block most of the time every 2nd attack of a foe.
• fractals have been revived and mossman / bloomhunger arent’ the only ones to fight anymore – high lv fotm (50+) mobs have around 3600 armor, even more if they are over lv80, wich is compared to the raids like matthias with perma protection → condi wanted
• even if you leave your personal dps signets at home and go for support skills, you’ll still deal more damage than the power mes, the only thing that may hurt a bit is the lack of the chrono rune tough …

I don’t say condi chrono ftw now! There are definitly situations where I like power more. But I can’t blame anyone who is seriously playing condi Chrono in fotm now. It’s amazing.

Greez!
- Xyo

Xyonon.3987:

Fay.2357:

It’s worth noting that the sword is massively better defensively than scepter, particularly in fractals. There’s a ton of absurd and infuriating unblockable attacks in fractals. There are also some equally absurd undodgeable attacks, but those are far more rare.

What are those “ton’s of absurd unblockable attacks” you’re talking about? Jade Maw beam? o.O I can’t find them even if I try, at least not as many as you put it to be there so please – enlighten me.

Well, the one that was kittening me off last night is half of mai trin’s toolkit can’t be blocked. There’s a ton of aetherblade mob attacks that can’t be blocked as well. There’s also a lot of attacks that do multihits (like mossman’s cleave thingy), and those smash right through the scepter block (shield works for those though).

Mai’s multi lightning fan like attack is unblockable, but you can simply stay behind a clone or phantasm or dodge it. Her port is blockable, her autos are blockable (even tough they are multihit, you can take one to block n slap her. Mossman’s cleave is a 2 hit, but one hit should be survivable. I’d rather block it with shield or dodge it tough and block his autos then, but if that’s it, i’ll gladly stick to my scepter :P

I’ve had some good experiences in VG running circles on condi mes. Mesmers can easily cap bleed duration and iDuelists scale very well with precision so I run full Rampager instead of messing with Viper. The specific build I use has signet regen for sustain, blink to catch circles, distortion to live through the really bad circles, temporal curtain for seeker pulls, magic bullet to help with breakbars, and moa to instantly break red’s bar. In general VG is mostly about the circle team staying alive and condi mes does that job pretty well while still dealing respectable damage. Most VG groups don’t prioritize boons for their circle team so you’ll contribute around 10k dps which is probably a bit better than what an ele would get in the same situation.

Xyonon.3987:

Mai’s multi lightning fan like attack is unblockable, but you can simply stay behind a clone or phantasm or dodge it. Her port is blockable, her autos are blockable (even tough they are multihit, you can take one to block n slap her. Mossman’s cleave is a 2 hit, but one hit should be survivable. I’d rather block it with shield or dodge it tough and block his autos then, but if that’s it, i’ll gladly stick to my scepter :P

Just goes to show how little I’ve done fractals since the update. I remember back when a mossman cleave from a level 40+ fractal would do 15k with each of those 2 hits.