Guild Wars 2

Just curious if anyone is having trouble tagging mobs and getting loot as a staff/condition build as a mesmer in high level DE’s. I haven’t tried it out, but have been tempted as I want to eventually switch to staff for WvW.

currently running a GS/Sword setup and while tagging for loot isn’t easy. It’s not impossible. How bad is it as a condition/staff build?

no issues with taging mobs with a great sword.
GS2 bounces to multiple targets.
GS3 is a small AOE. I would suggest the instant AOE from the options menu. (casts the AOE on your mouse cursor.)
GS4 will whirlwind and hit multiple targets as well.
and GS5 is a cone attack and will hit rather a few too.

Staff #5 will net you a nice AOE, but its a longer CD so its harder to cycle.

Trying to tag with nothing but the staff in a DE? Honestly, it can be kinda frustrating. Illusionary Elasticity is a very good option, though the slowness of the projectile may make things iffy near max range depending on how fast the monsters die. Chaos Storm is great for tagging, though on a lengthy CD. The Staff Clones may get lucky and land a Burn on one or if you are extremely lucky two enemies but not something to rely on.

Instead, the best thing I’ve had for tagging DEs so far is Mind Wrack and Cry of Frustration. Zoom into a group with Temporal Curtain, Spawn a clone or three, shatter, spawn more clones, shatter again. With 30 illusions and Illusionary Persona, 10 seconds for every Mind Wrack and just over 20 seconds for a Cry of Frustration, all of which usable even if you don’t have a Clone out, makes tagging easier … as long as you can get into melee range fast enough.

So I tend to use Sword/Focus when for tagging in DEs, and swap to staff to throw an I.Warlock and Staff Clones at the Champions wandering about between shatters.

use berserker gear. you give up a bit going full rampager, but give up nothing when going berserker on this class.

this is for pve. for spvp it’s all about conditions.

Bounce skills that bounce to allies will never be good for tagging, besides Greatsword’s bounce skill, since they prioritize allies.

Wait, illusionary persona allow you to shatter without having illusions out?

Yep. You can use any of the Shatter skills without any actual Illusion out, when you have Illusionary Persona trait.

I’ve recently retraited to an Illusionary Persona build with Staff/GS and I LOVE it! I tag all the things!!

I’ll dodge roll into the pile and Wrack → dodge out → bouncy blade →Wrack/Cry!