Guild Wars 2

As I was about to suggest a change for Condition Dmg, I decided to back up and test as Pure of a Condition Dmg build as I could on a Mesmer. The results were … interesting. I had a bit of spare gold/karma/tokens that I didn’t mind spending on a few more pieces of Rabid Gear, so I tried a small sample of the build. To try to make myself even Biased against this, I used my often loathed Scepter and Torch Combo in PvE. In fact, I bought a 2nd set of Rabid Armor just so I didn’t loose my Centaur Rabid for Undead Rabid.

Condition Dmg Scepter/Torch Mesmer Test Build

Gear:
Rabid Armor with Superior Runes of the Undead x6
Rabid Necklace (Karma) w/ Crest of the Rabid
Ascended Rabid Rings
Rabid Earrings (Karma) w/ Crest of the Rabid
Ascended Rabid Back.
Rampager Scepter (Superior Sigil of Earth) & Rabid Torch (Superior Sigil of Corruption)
Rampager Staff (Major Sigil of Fire)
Rabid Trident (Superior Sigil of Stamina)
—Didn’t feel like buying a new Scepter and Staff, so I used my Rampager.
Spicy Pumpkin Cookies (70 Condition Dmg)
Quality Tuning Crystals (5% Toughness to Condition Dmg, +3% Vitality to Condition Dmg.)

End Result in PvE?
1861 Toughness (2781 Armor)
2092 Condition Damage (after 25 charges)
—147 Dmg per Tick on Bleeds
—851 Dmg per Tick on Burnings
—443 Dmg per Proc on Confusion
50% Critical Hit Chance. (Roughly)
980 Power
0% Crit Dmg

Every fiber of my being was telling me I would hate the results. It was using the Scepter and Torch in PvE, against a variety of landscape mobs in Frostgorge Sound and Southsun Cove from Normal, Veteran, and Champion. Underwater and on Land.
End Results were the killing times comparable to my normal build (0/20/0/20/30 Rampager/Zerker mix), and as expected slower then a ShatterCat Full Zerker.
It excelled underwater with the Trident. On land, the Scepter/Torch was a touch slower but the Staff had quite a bit of a bite. Clones didn’t simply up and die in one hit without Signet of Illusions, and were surprisingly sturdy with it. Phantasms weren’t simply glass, but could take a few hits as well. Not to mention, I could actually TAKE a hit for once.

I was expecting to be very slow killing, but it exceeded my expectations. Scepter for Exploding Clones for Confusion and 3x Bleed/Vulnerability/Weakness was actually useful, especially against groups of enemies surrounding a Veteran. Only the Veteran Karkas was more trouble then he was worth with the Scepter/Torch, but strangely the Reef Drakes were tolerable in their place to fight.

I honestly didn’t expect Condition Dmg to be that decent. Nor could I exactly pinpoint exactly WHAT was killing the creature specifically, as the Scepter’s auto-attack hit for around what the BLEEDS were doing when it didn’t crit >.>; It also never had to deal with the Shatter-happy build’s waiting period for CDs.

Gold, Tokens, and Karma well spent for the gear after all. Even if it won’t become my default build.

Anyone else tested something they thought they would hate, but found the build was actually okay?

Hey man, I’ve also been bored of GS and shatter/phantasm and even “shantasm” builds, so I’ve been experimenting alot with the Staff, and developed this build recently, which has helped our static grp work our way through mid-20’s Fractals much more smoothly…

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/The-Da-Vinci-Build

As I am honing my gear for this build, I am gradually acquiring more Condition gear, and decreasing my Power. I am in love with the survivability of playing with a Staff, my group is praising me for boosting their level of play… and while I feel like I’m doing a little less damage, it’s not as much as I expected, given how much more durable I feel.

So, I see the “Da Vinci” build going more “condition-y” over time, but I hear what you’re saying… Cheers!

Deci

Just curious, how do you find confusion working on boss fights?? IE, how many stacks can you put on a mob at once, and what kind of hits are you seeing?
Thx!

Nice job! I occasionally try to make the condition thing work as well. The numbers on paper aren’t too shabby, for sure.

There are a few downsides that stop me from keeping it for long, and I’d love your experiences on these.

First, condition caps weren’t a huge problem, since the weak bleeds get knocked off and mine were usually strong in Rabid gear. But it was still present and noticeable in large groups.

Second, confusion in PvE is an underperformer. With enemy swing times occasionally as slow as 5 seconds (more if you kite AT ALL), it was too common for confusion to wear off before it did much, if any, damage.

Consider an 8 stack of Confusion from our shatter. At 443 damage a stack, you’re looking at about 3550 damage per swing. Generally, enemies will only swing once. In berserker gear using Mind Wrack, the same 4 clone shatter for me does about 6-8k (4 clones, about 1500 damage on a non-crit per clone). In all my testing, I couldn’t ever get Cry of Frustration to be a reliable source of damage comparable to Mind Wrack in PvE. PvP/WvW: absolutely a rock star.

Finally, weapon skill synergy. Staff’s phantasm is power based, not condition based. Scepter’s auto-attack and block are power based, not condition based. Staff attacks occasionally cause vulnerability, which isn’t very exciting for a condition build. I just always felt like a heavy percentage of my skills weren’t scaling the way I needed them to.

On Confusion? One has to remember that I didn’t setup for Perma-Confusion in this build, so I had no +Condition Duration beyond the trait for +33% Confusion Duration.

In most cases, Confusion was just a small spike of damage. Fighting Groups had a nice benefit of near constant 1x Stack of Confusion with the Scepter on most enemies, which would spike to 2x-4x stack when my main target dies in that group. Outside of the Confusing Combatants and Scepter spawn-death Clones, it would also spike from I.Mage for 3x at odd times and from Shatters (when used). That said, Confusion was definitely not a staple damage dealer in PvE in most cases and was thought of as unreliable extra damage.
Exception: Young Karkas and Confusion mix well once they are past their multi-spit. They will activate Confusion Dmg 2x or even 3x during the duration. I nearly laughed when I snuck a 14x Stack of Confusion on one from I.Mage, Confusing Images, and Cry of Frustration for over 10k dmg (2x procs before part of it wore off). Too much work and timing for the 14x Stack though to even try to do again as it really wasn’t worth the effort.
—Veteran Fights? Confusion was the same result as a normal group fight. Presence was always there, but not the main dmging condition.
—-Champion Fights? Same result, if slightly less activation as I would kite at times he would chase me. Bleeds and Burnings were MUCH more reliable and definitely did more damage. Further, Confusion became rarer as I would swap to Staff (No constant spawning/death of Clones)

Jormag Fight? That was a strange one that I’m not entirely sure if I WAS doing Condition Dmg with my staff. I would hit, see a small white number representing Winds of Chaos hitting, but … I would never see my Bleeds/Burnings proc. Even when Bleeds weren’t capped out (For once due to how late it was). I got Gold Participation, but I’m honestly unsure if anything worked there.

@Kelthien:
On weapon skill synergy? Yeah, thats part of why I thought I was going to LOATHE the build. Instead, the Synergy kicks in from Sharper Images and “On Clone Death” Traits. CLONES actually start doing damage, can take multiple hits and even make an enemy ignore you for quite some time. Each time a Clone Crits, thats 745 dmg. One in Three Clone Deaths is an Explosion for 3x Bleeding AoE for 2235 dmg and an chance at 443 dmg (Confusion). Staff works better for Clone attacks (Especially with bounced Might stacks), but is generally weaker for repeated spawning for the On Clone Death results in comparison to the Scepter.
—I.Warlock was the only skill I was not happy with in a Rabid set.

Side Note: Has anyone else EVER gotten the Phantasmal Mage’s bouncing bolt to ever go to a second enemy? All of its bounces seem to target only allies, and if there are no allies it doesn’t bounce…