Guild Wars 2

I want to at least give confusion another try. I really like my mantra build. But i like to full around with builds. I had thought about going IP, but it relies on melee range for you to stack the shatter condition e.g. confusion. I dont know if its even neccesary. I had thought of maybe a confusion stacking shatter build. Something like this.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgQQNArfWl0zKqnQzqGbNJiZGDHyh+w1RqQrVSxsdhA

http://tinyurl.com/bq3r8fy

But it seems like i’m missing a lot by not using the blind causes confusion glamour combo. So many blinds are available. Something like this seems pretty cookie cutter.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgQQNArfWl0zKqnQzqGb9IiJFDHyh6x1VdfXJFz2FC

http://tinyurl.com/cjeahyz

Or is Ip really worth it? I feel going the glamour route really locks down your utilities. With that much power behind your glamours you really NEED to take 3 of them. And then if you do, shouldn’t you spec for a shorter glamour cooldown? I have never used IP so i don’t know how useful it really can be for confusion stacking.

Any thoughts would be apreciated

This may or may not help you, but check this channel out (yes he’s my guild leader so i’m kinda advertising him) http://www.youtube.com/kyliad

But that youtube channel is kind of your one-stop-shop for confusion mesmerage :P

Edit: Builds Kylia posts are likely to be WvW specific, i’ve personally found the glamour confusion build to be near pointless to use in PvE, If you want a PvE confusion build i would suggest something much more along the lines of an IP shatter confusion build with givers weapons for extra condition duration.

I think IP (if you mean illusionary persona) is extremely useful. even if you dont get in melee range most of the people you face will want to (i.e thieves warriors guardians d/d eles) you’ll have a lot of flexibility with that trait imo and you’ll find that even if you are a condition build you will shatter often so the shredding rate bonus is great to if you invest in that trait line.

another thing to keep in mind is that your shatters are aoe so when up against more than one enemy it really, really stands out. You can easily take 3-4 opponents if you manage your shatters properly – I have been successful against a max of 8 so far but that depends on their individual and group level skills.

While using the blind confusion combo is nice, you’ll only get one stack of confusion unless you’re shattering or they just keep running in and out of your glamour fields. It’s really not worth it numbers wise because 1 stack only does about 300 dmg depending on how your build is setup but even if you push it to the extreme of 500 dmg, confusion is devastating in stacks.

I have only 800-900 condition dmg but when i stack with my shatters im doing 2k ticks with my dps in the mix as well. It’s very powerful. If traited and built properly you can hit up to 8k ticks (using foods and sigils) but you’d need 6+ stacks for that.

imho not only are you getting more condition dmg from investing there but you’ve got a backup (diversion and distortion) in case ppl get too close for comfort. not to mention diversion is excellent when you’re going for a stomp

Alchemist.3692:

I have only 800-900 condition dmg but when i stack with my shatters im doing 2k ticks with my dps in the mix as well. It’s very powerful. If traited and built properly you can hit up to 8k ticks (using foods and sigils) but you’d need 6+ stacks for that.

Great post – please be careful with inaccurate info tho. There is no way anyone is getting 8k ticks with anything close to 6 stacks of confusion. Even Kylia (referenced above and probably one of the most proficient confusion mesmers I’ve seen) doesn’t break 7k ticks with 17 stacks of confusion.

Only reason I bring this up is because there are already calls for confusion to be nerfed – no need to add fuel to that fire with inaccurate info. ;-)

Just for the record i plan on Shattering for confusion stacks either way :P I don’t know if i made that clear. Its just a matter of taking Ip, Glamour. Or like my first build. Neither with higher in the chaos line.

Shattering either way is how you do it anyways :p, but essentially you need to look at what you can get out of it. Glamours causing blinds, and blinds causind confusion works well cos then each glamour placement is reducing damage taken by you and allies. So glamours give a stack on placement which they otherwise wouldn’t. Then there is the addition of your scepter number two applying blind and confusion in a line when you double tap it.

If you were to choose torch as an offhand over focus for some reason your prestige blind will also confuse (I personally prefer focus though, warden inside glamours for confusion whirl finisher and temporal curtain pull for forced glam field entrances is just boss)

Either way its personal choice but for IP is essentially only one more stack of confusion as apposed to the other options opened up.

Dhampyr.2104:

Alchemist.3692:

I have only 800-900 condition dmg but when i stack with my shatters im doing 2k ticks with my dps in the mix as well. It’s very powerful. If traited and built properly you can hit up to 8k ticks (using foods and sigils) but you’d need 6+ stacks for that.

Great post – please be careful with inaccurate info tho. There is no way anyone is getting 8k ticks with anything close to 6 stacks of confusion. Even Kylia (referenced above and probably one of the most proficient confusion mesmers I’ve seen) doesn’t break 7k ticks with 17 stacks of confusion.

Only reason I bring this up is because there are already calls for confusion to be nerfed – no need to add fuel to that fire with inaccurate info. ;-)

The calcuation is simple – if you take condition dmg at 2600 (which one of the mesmers in my guild has without the sigil of corruption or signet but it does include food + crystal) then your damage per stack is 130 + (0.15*2600) = 520; take that x the 17 stacks you mentioned (which i have no idea how someone can get 17 stacks of confusion and you’ve hit the 8k mark – granted at the difficulty of putting on 17 stacks). If we say max sigil and signet plus 3 stacks of might (which is a joke for mesmers because we can keep them up easily) we get 130 + [0.15(2600+250+100+105)] = 588 x the 17 stacks you mentioned is 9996 and at 6 stacks it’s 3528, and at 9 it’s 5292. Here we are also assuming the weapon set is made for condition dmg as primary stats and rune of undead for the extra condition and 5% off the toughness (I haven’t asked, but it would seem logical lol).

ANet is well aware of how powerful confusion is which is why it’s only half the dmg in spvp. Granted it’s not easy to hit 8k and requires a lot of practice and timing to make sure you stack properly – but it’s not impossible… if you trait correctly you can be doing 3.5-4.5 easily. Beyond 5 is very difficult, but it’s not fair to call it inaccurate.

To be clear I said up to 8k dmg and 6 plus stacks. I never said 6 stacks will give you 8k, that’s just ridiculous.

Alchemist.3692:

snip

Thanks for clarifying – just didn’t want folks reading the post and walking away with “zomg 8k with 6 stacks!” and starting a new qq thread on confusion. Appreciate it!

That’s me in some solo as well as group fights, Mostly against AD/Bsty/NoQQ (if you’ve seen any of their videos). I run IP in my build simply because I dont like being pigeon holed into using only Glamour fields on my utilities.

Alchemist.3692:

…
The calcuation is simple – if you take condition dmg at 2600 (which one of the mesmers in my guild has without the sigil of corruption or signet but it does include food + crystal) …

could you tell us how he reaches that condition damage? or is that with a ~15 stack of might?

Went with

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/external?l=http%3A%2F%2Ftinyurl.com%2Fcjeahyz

For tonight. I liked the Glamours and the blinds. I guess i just wish i had more points! I want everything :P I used to have Prismatic Understanding and i miss it, but it dosent fit. And i really wish i could get the chaotic transference. To boost my condition damage. But again not enough points! And with the glamours having confusing enhancements would be awesome. But again dosent fit

How much worse is just having confusing enhancements. Vrs dazzling glamours and blinding befuddlement? Anyone know?

Also has anyone run any test comparing using Mind wrack with confusion attached vrs cry of frustration for double stacks?

The confusing enchantments vs Dazzling glamours and Blinding befundlement thing is why I’d suggest just grabbing them all, Both Dazzling and Blinding synergize well with each other, not to mention the confusion from any other sources of blind. And a really cool thing about Confusing enchantments is it isn’t limited by a number of people it can hit, so you drop a null field + feedback into the middle of a zerg and watch the numbers as people freak out and you proceed to pull 5 of them back through it with temp curtain :P

I’d also suggest using Ether feast as a heal, and try use it when you have a couple illusions out, I would say use prayer to dwayna because it is a higher base heal without the need for illusions but you seem to have ticked asuran there?

As for your elite mass invis is great, but one large thing confusion mesmers lack is damage outside of confusion so i would suggest looking in to the attack golem (a guildy ran with this on his asuran confusion mesmer and LOVES it). Again though i would say if you were human running with hounds of balthazar in a confusion build is a MUST.

This all on top of the usual support oriented feel of both Null field and Feedback, condition removal and projectile reflection makes it a seriously potent mix for both group or solo play.

As for the cry of frustration vs mind wrack, again, use them both. Cry of frustration being on a longer cooldown allows you to mind wrack between, or you could run mind wrack for your opening confusion stacks and then once they are dropped off use frustration to maximize your downtime confusion, along with the scepter #3.

Either go glamours, or go shatters with your sceptre staff. Key difference though is that with your glamours you’re going to be a 1 trick pony with a long cooldown. You want shatters, so that makes this real easy.

Your 0, 20, 20, 0, 30 build is the way to go, and there’s a variety of teaks you can make. But let’s look at what you’ve got as it is. As it stands you can land 17 stacks against a single target with that build and here’s how. Open with iMage (1200 range, so you get that out immediately), sceptre 3, mirror image and IP shatter at close range. Target characters who’ve burnt their dodge rolls, but otherwise dont sweat them dodging out your sceptre 3, it’ll leave them prone for your incoming shatters which is good.

Mesmer solo shatter confusion bomb flanking: Find a flank. Sceptre auto attack and spawn one as close to entering zerg as possible, or open with iMage. Mirror image and shatter 2, double dodge roll and shatter 1 (can sceptre 2 for aditional clone on block if you want to try, or burn something else), prestige for aoe confuse on blind, flame blast then run and/or blink out back to friendly line. Order a push: watch pretty pink bubbles of death. Oh, and if you do keep signit of midnight, fire that right before your retreat for an additional blink/confuse.

If you want to focus staff for confusion, utilise your blinding befuddlement by drawing out your chaos armor, and tank hits as much as you can. Technically 1 in 3 attacks causes blind which will cause confusion, plus whatever other conditions your staff clones/attacks generate.

Note: I used to run weapon cooldowns for sceptre, and considered it for staff, but you really dont need it. If you’re going to utalise chaos armor though, then its a must. Though there is a better build for it than this one.

Ross Biddle.2367:

Either go glamours, or go shatters with your sceptre staff.

Why not do both? a 20/0/0/20/30 build utilizes glamours to the best of their potential by making them blind and in turn cause confusion in multiple ways, you are also reducing their cooldown and increasing their uptime.

Along with this you have 30 in illusions which is automatically making you able to shatter for confusions, yeah you won’t be popping clones out every few seconds when you dodge, but you will still be able to get ample clones / phantasms out in time for mind wrack and cry of frustration shatters.

Build 1:
http://tinyurl.com/buzjzz9

Build 2:
http://tinyurl.com/c4mzlrj

Build 3:
http://tinyurl.com/c5vja68

Here are three variations of the same theme. What you need to realise with any confusion shatter build is you need constant energy regen. There are two ways to accomplish this. Either you need to put a decent number of points into chaos for boon duration, coupled with 5 points in dueling (this will grant you 5 seconds of regen every 5 seconds, which means the bonus to boon duration will grant you the extra second/s to proc another regen with no down time, assuming you have the right gear/crit chance), OR you need to take 10 points in Inspiration for Vigerous Revelation (note the bonus group utility).

While bonus boon duration and extra toughness can be considered all round better (more survivable, more condition damage), Vigerous Revelation on top of Critical Infusion makes for more powerful, on demand energy regen when coupled with IP, and thus uber clone creation.

Also if you do go into Inspiration, instead of sceptre skill reduction you can take menders purity for condition removal on heal. But that’s just one of the many flexible variations you can take with a shatter confusion build beyond the base necessities of the build.

Final note: Unfortunately using your bonus 20 points to go for something like torch cooldown trait will adversely effect your vigor upkeep, which is badtimes for a dodge/shatter build

Without ANY points for vigor procs or increased vigor uptime you are capable of getting ample illusions up to shatter by the time a shatter cooldown is up, so why go to such lengths to increase your clone production when you don’t need to? run with Null field / Feedback and Mirror images and theres your group support in null field and feedback, and extra clone production from mirror images alongside the illusions you can produce via weapons.

You can still run a ‘’shatter confusion’’ style build without actually having to go and build for vigor and dodge illusions. I’d suggest you go and watch some of Kylia’s video’s on the glamour build and you will see him rolling shatters as well as glamours.

Wow you guys are just awesome! Thanks so much for all the advice. I still have a lot to think about. But you have given me a ton of info to work with!

Thanks again!

Also i use Mirror for the synergy with Centaur runes. Since someone asked.

Dhampyr.2104:

Alchemist.3692:

snip

Thanks for clarifying – just didn’t want folks reading the post and walking away with “zomg 8k with 6 stacks!” and starting a new qq thread on confusion. Appreciate it!

lol but that would be epic… either way as a class that’s been nerfed since launch (and probably during beta) i don’t think there’s much else left to take away. tbh using a mesmer requires a fair amount of technical skill – so you’re either really good or you’re not. I’ve rarely seen any inbetweens. What there should be a QQ thread about is a perma stealth thief running away after having his kitten handed to him!

grimmson.9154:

Alchemist.3692:

…
The calcuation is simple – if you take condition dmg at 2600 (which one of the mesmers in my guild has without the sigil of corruption or signet but it does include food + crystal) …

could you tell us how he reaches that condition damage? or is that with a ~15 stack of might?

I haven’t asked him, but playing around a little i can hit +1100 condition dmg (the base changes based on the condition being applied) with the following build, plus 5% condition taken from toughness, plus tuning crystals and rare veggie pizza (70 dmg and 40% duration), carrion/tribal staff which is another +179 and rabid armor should get us to that mark or at least very close to it.
http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mcmc9wGG0x9k8070V7kGW70V7ow170m

when i go on tonight I’ll ask him if he’s on what his build is

Rskippy.3620:

Ross Biddle.2367:

Either go glamours, or go shatters with your sceptre staff.

Why not do both? a 20/0/0/20/30 build utilizes glamours to the best of their potential by making them blind and in turn cause confusion in multiple ways

I don’t know if this has been fixed yet, but there was a bug before (around halloween time) when i tried a similar build. The glamour would cause blind, but it wouldn’t proc confusion through blindness which is why i stayed away from that kind of build. Can someone verify if this is working now?

Alchemist.3692:

I don’t know if this has been fixed yet, but there was a bug before (around halloween time) when i tried a similar build. The glamour would cause blind, but it wouldn’t proc confusion through blindness which is why i stayed away from that kind of build. Can someone verify if this is working now?

I think the confusion on blindness/glamors cause blind is the only way to get a glamor to cause confusion on cast (meaning those inside the glamor get confusion without moving in/out of the field), yeah? If so, then I can say it’s definitely working – my feedback and null field both cause confusion as soon as they’re cast, both in WvW and PvE.

Alchemist.3692:

grimmson.9154:

Alchemist.3692:

…
The calcuation is simple – if you take condition dmg at 2600 (which one of the mesmers in my guild has without the sigil of corruption or signet but it does include food + crystal) …

could you tell us how he reaches that condition damage? or is that with a ~15 stack of might?

I haven’t asked him, but playing around a little i can hit +1100 condition dmg (the base changes based on the condition being applied) with the following build, plus 5% condition taken from toughness, plus tuning crystals and rare veggie pizza (70 dmg and 40% duration), carrion/tribal staff which is another +179 and rabid armor should get us to that mark or at least very close to it.
http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mcmc9wGG0x9k8070V7kGW70V7ow170m

when i go on tonight I’ll ask him if he’s on what his build is

To be honest I’d say your guildy is either lying to you or counting almost full might stacks. I run with FULL rabbid gear and runes of the undead, with chrysacola jewels I’m specced 20/0/0/20/30 and with 25 stacks of corruption, tuning crystals and veggie pizzas I peak just over 2k condition damage.. even if I went 25 in to chaos I would gain less than 100 more condition damage, and in doing that I would lose a lot of importaint traits.

Also the reason I said about the heal is prayer to dwayna is a great heal as apposed to ether feast (without illusions), mirror is good for centaur uptime but to be honest in my illusions build where I ran with centaurs is use ether feast, and I had boon duration from traits enough to have 13-14 second swiftness on a 20 second cooldown.. honestly I would say look at running rabbid gear with runes of the undead for a confusion build.. if you really want to gain some more health at the cost of your toughness drop some carrion in there.

Alchemist.3692:

Dhampyr.2104:

Alchemist.3692:

I have only 800-900 condition dmg but when i stack with my shatters im doing 2k ticks with my dps in the mix as well. It’s very powerful. If traited and built properly you can hit up to 8k ticks (using foods and sigils) but you’d need 6+ stacks for that.

Great post – please be careful with inaccurate info tho. There is no way anyone is getting 8k ticks with anything close to 6 stacks of confusion. Even Kylia (referenced above and probably one of the most proficient confusion mesmers I’ve seen) doesn’t break 7k ticks with 17 stacks of confusion.

Only reason I bring this up is because there are already calls for confusion to be nerfed – no need to add fuel to that fire with inaccurate info. ;-)

The calcuation is simple – if you take condition dmg at 2600 (which one of the mesmers in my guild has without the sigil of corruption or signet but it does include food + crystal) then your damage per stack is 130 + (0.15*2600) = 520; take that x the 17 stacks you mentioned (which i have no idea how someone can get 17 stacks of confusion and you’ve hit the 8k mark – granted at the difficulty of putting on 17 stacks). If we say max sigil and signet plus 3 stacks of might (which is a joke for mesmers because we can keep them up easily) we get 130 + [0.15(2600+250+100+105)] = 588 x the 17 stacks you mentioned is 9996 and at 6 stacks it’s 3528, and at 9 it’s 5292. Here we are also assuming the weapon set is made for condition dmg as primary stats and rune of undead for the extra condition and 5% off the toughness (I haven’t asked, but it would seem logical lol).

ANet is well aware of how powerful confusion is which is why it’s only half the dmg in spvp. Granted it’s not easy to hit 8k and requires a lot of practice and timing to make sure you stack properly – but it’s not impossible… if you trait correctly you can be doing 3.5-4.5 easily. Beyond 5 is very difficult, but it’s not fair to call it inaccurate.

To be clear I said up to 8k dmg and 6 plus stacks. I never said 6 stacks will give you 8k, that’s just ridiculous.

I should really check the forums more often

2600 on a mesmer would require the individual to not only drop the veggie pizza (and run a 100 cond, 70 vit food, but also have a complete set of vit, toughness condition damage items (which only exist for ascended jewlery at the moment) as well as the corruption sigil as well as might. Now before they removed Orb’s you could achieve over 500 damage a tick alot easier with three orb’s, but not anymore, Perhaps the information you are receiving from your guildy is outdated on total condition damage (funny enough there are a few other classes that can easily achieve high 2k condition amounts)

Would love to be proven wrong and shown how to get 2600 without might, and sigil (though the sigil gives a tiny amount anyhow )

How to achieve 17 stacks? I have a few videos (including one where I slow down the 17 stack generation) (at work so no lonk sorry) Video called – “15.10.2012 High Confusion talk” (and also a few in actual combat and not controlled environments, I think the most famous one being “26.10.12 Mesmer WvW Play” against a poor warrior)

Alchemist.3692:

grimmson.9154:

Alchemist.3692:

…
The calcuation is simple – if you take condition dmg at 2600 (which one of the mesmers in my guild has without the sigil of corruption or signet but it does include food + crystal) …

could you tell us how he reaches that condition damage? or is that with a ~15 stack of might?

my guess would be the guildy told him his condition damage while “shattered strentgh” was op. in those times 2600 condition damage would be very realistic with 80% uptime during fights.

currently 1900-2100 condition damage depending on gear without might but with 25 corruption is more realistic.