Guild Wars 2

Hey guys,

Since a few weeks I am running this mesmer build in WvW. It feels strong in battles because of the high surviveability, and very high condition output. I’ve had several battles 1v3 which were won by me with this build. However I am struggling to get it perfect. Condition necro’s are definetly a weak point for me, and all condition builds next to that. However I don’t know where I can sacrifise a skill or traits to get more condi removal without having me lose essential parts of this build. Please take a look at it and help me make it perfect

Build Link: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAW7al0zqp3UzgGb9IiZGBHFiSx1ldlZgbXIA-jUCB4iCy0CAk0wk3QZqFRjtsuIasKZER1KlYGzFRrWKgFlGB-w

I’m no expert on WvW but imo Ether Feast is usually always better than Mirror unless you’re running something that has synergy with it. Also Blink/Decoy are usually superior to Mirror Images in terms of evading/escaping/confusing the enemy. Other then that it seems alright.

The build looks nice. If you are having problems with necros I’d say to swap AT for mantra or resolve (imho the best condi removal we have). Also, dropping 10 points from illusions for inspiration would let you take Mender’s Purity, in which case Mirror could fit better (faster recharge/more boon clearing).
Moreover I see mirror images to fit a pure shatter build better and thus I would swap it with a disengage utility like decoy or blink or any other utility you feel the build is missing

Thanks for the advice! I am definetly going to try to use decoy or blink.
I am also dropping traits in exchange for mender’s purity to try that out!

thx alot

Nice build, I like the concept!

As far as tweaks go, I’d definitely drop Mirror Images for Blink, far far superior. Mirror Images is more a shatter burst damage skill than anything else; I see what you’re going for with the clone-death procs but Deceptive Evasion and weapon clones should be enough for that.

With that, I’d switch Mirror of Anguish out for manipulation cooldowns, since you have two of them — faster recharge on your condition transfer, and 24 second blinks. Mirror of Anguish is pretty sub-par; far too long cooldown and in a 1vX situation mirroring a single CC does almost nothing for you. Bountiful Interruption and the Staff trait are also both good options worth trying out.

For condition removal, you could consider moving 10 points from Illusions into Inspiration to get Mender’s Purity.

The only other thing that comes to mind is trying to maximize your Perplexity runes by dropping the Signet of Domination for Mantra of Distraction. If you combine that with Mantra Mastery (instead of Phantasmal Fury which only really benefits the Duelist), and also take the Mantra of Healing with Mender’s Purity, it really boosts your confusion output and condition removal. The downside would be losing a fair amount of Duelist bleeds, you may want to switch some Dire gear to Rabid to get crit chance back.

My main concern is what is your primary source of damage? You have low power, low crit damage, low presicion, so you are not doing much direct damage and your clones are not applying bleed very often. A single clone will likely not apply more than one bleed before dying in many situations.

The way I see it, you are relying on confusion and scepter block (torment) to apply the main part of your damage. If the enemy can counter that with just a minor amount of condition cleanse, your DPS is almost negated. No matter how much survivability you have, most thieves will be able to burn you down quite quickly if you can not put any pressure on them.

As far as traits go, I’m not sure what you want IE for. It does not work on staff clones (possibly bug), so the only benefit is to your staff AA. Those 10 points could give you 30 Dueling and Chaos instead, opening up 2 extra GM traits, which is something to consider.

With the amount of clones you have, Ether Feast offers much more healing overall. Unless Mirror has some sort of trait or skill synergy, it doesn’t offer any substantial benefit over other heals. Remember, you have a rather large health pool with that gear and Mirror will only fill a tiny amount of it.

This has already been mentioned, but learn to love blink. AFAIK it is the only skill in the game that will never be locked out/lose benefits by anything except daze.
It is a ground target teleport.
It breaks stun.
It ignores immobilize and in fact any CC except daze (though it does not remove it).
It has 1200 range when traited (Dueling I).
Cannot be interrupted (no cast time).

calavel.6249:

AFAIK it is the only skill in the game that will never be locked out/lose benefits by anything except daze.

I’m confused, why is it the only skill that doesn’t lose benefits, and why is daze an exception?

Blink is awesome, don’t get me wrong, but that statement makes little sense.

Pyroatheist.9031:

I’m confused, why is it the only skill that doesn’t lose benefits, and why is daze an exception?

Blink is awesome, don’t get me wrong, but that statement makes little sense.

It’s a stunbreaker so stun won’t lock it. It retains full functionality when you are immobilized, where most movement skill (like leaps) will trigger but not move you. The only thing that can prevent you from blinking is daze because daze prevents you from using any skill.

@Calavel: Since you’re a little confused, I’m going to copy/paste a post I wrote up a while ago explaining how a lot of skills interact.

So…..

• Blowout
• Launch
• Knockdown
• Pull
• Knockback

These are all control effects. They are not affected by any type of duration increase. They can be broken with a stun breaking skill.

• Daze
• Stun

These are control effects. They are affected by various duration increases. They are broken with a stun breaking skill.

• Fear

This is a control effect and a condition. It is affected only by condition duration, but can be broken with a stun breaking skill, as well as removed with a condition removal skill.

• Bleed
• Burn
• Poison
• Torment
• Immobilize
• Cripple
• Chill
• Weakness
• Blindness
• Confusion
• Vulnerability

These are all conditions. They are affected only by condition duration. They can only be removed by a condition removal skill.

Hope that clears things up.

Did I say blink removes conditions? No. I said it lets you move your character (by blinking) even when you are immobilized. Blink moves you, that’s what it does, primarily. The only way you cannot move with blink is if you are dazed, at least I can’t think of another reason.

calavel.6249:

Did I say blink removes conditions? No. I said it lets you move your character (by blinking) even when you are immobilized. Blink moves you, that’s what it does, primarily. The only way you cannot move with blink is if you are dazed, at least I can’t think of another reason.

He’s trying to help you understand that blink is a stun breaker, which can get you out of daze (like any other stun break will).

Mirror can deal great amounts of damage and sometimes prevent more than any other heal can heal for.

Decoy will reduce the condi damage in your build but it has a lower recharge and stealth making it better for utility (i would take it).

I would go for staff trait over the reversed stun thingy, it will give you more clone output and damage. Phase retreat will be on a 6 sec cd making it great for kiting and getting out of nasty places.

I never leave base without blink it is strong in any build and has let me avoid more deaths than any other skill and lets you chase better (dont get me started on blink stomps they are amazing).

I am not a fan of the mantra condi clear but it is strong.

Most importantly i would go rabid gear to rack up bleed stacks.

@Calavel: My damage is perfectly high. Ofcourse I am not doing spike damage like shatter mesmers, but appying my conditions on enemies will get them down fairly fast.

I want to thank everybody for the help! I have played now with some adjusted things and it made a big difference