Mesmerizing
DPS Support Mesmer - WvW/PvE
Weapon Selection:
The weapons I chose are what I find optimal for WvW play, after testing a wide variety of them (minus Torch, which I’ll get to). The decision behind each weapon is as follows:
Focus:
The main piece to keep in mind here is the Focus. The Focus gives us AOE Swiftness using Temporal Curtain (doubling as Crowd Control with Into The Void) and also acts as a Reflect provider given our trait choices. Phantasmal Warden is excellent for keep defense (it causes people to scatter or take heavy damage) and provides yet another instance of Reflect. The Phantasm also puts out IMMENSE damage on targets who are Immobilized/Stunned/etc and stacks Sharper Image bleeds incredibly well.
Sword:
The Sword is less important, though useful. It provides a short-range gap closer in Illusionary Leap and a small AOE Cripple/Immobilize, useful for catching fleeing enemies (along with the obvious Clone generation. Blurred Frenzy deals damage to enemies who have been rendered Immobilized/Stunned/etc. The biggest draw however is the fact that Blurred Frenzy provides Blur during the channel, making us invulnerable which can help survivability or to prevent being CC’d.
Greatsword:
The Greatsword was the slot that got switched around the most. Usually, it was to try either Scepter/Torch or more likely Staff, but I’ve come to the conclusion that the Greatsword provides the most benefits. Spatial Surge hits 3 times, great for the crit-heavy build. Mirror Blade generates clones very quickly up close (great for Shatters!), they can stack Sharper Image bleeds (3x attacks per channel, even if they do no damage themselves the bleeds will) and does some minor AOE. Mind Stab can help strip Swiftness from a fleeing enemy or an Aegis. Phantasmal Berserker is one of the most useful skills we have, as an AOE heavy damage and Crippler, it’s great for ambushes and forces the enemy to kill it or risk taking more damage. Lastly, Illusionary Wave is a great AOE Knockback for interruption, engaging, disengaging and more. Also, knocking people off cliffs is hilarious.
Mesmerizing
Heal, Utility Skills and Elite:
Mesmers have an excellent selection of Utility skills to choose from. Below is a list of the ones I use specifically for WvW/PvE, along with some examples of alternatives that also work well with the build.
Ether Feast:
This build can generate Clones quickly with Greatsword’s Mirror Blade and Sword’s Illusionary Leap to help beef up the heal, but in the end I would pick it even if it was vanilla because it has the strongest base heal for the Mesmer. Mirror is a consideration in specific projectile-heavy situations, but personally I find the bigger heal more important.
Blink:
I will always use Blink. Stun Break is invaluable for escaping sticky situations (as we are squishy), closing the gap on fleeing enemies to hit them with a Cripple or Snare, and gets you around certain obstacles in PvE like traps.
Feedback:
Feedback is an amazing skill in PvE and WvW. Providing a large AOE Reflect is an incredibly useful status, completely shutting down ranged projectiles. In skirmishes, it can be dropped on your party to protect them or on the enemy to hinder, it also provides a useful combo field that provides Chaos Armor to allies and Confusion to the enemy. It is also good in keep defense, as you can drop it on a group of attackers and force them to take a fair bit of damage before they realize what is happening. In PvE, certain mobs ONLY have ranged attacks (including some bosses!) and this will shut them down (and they usually aren’t smart enough to move out of it) so it has utility everywhere.
Decoy/Null Field/Portal:
The third slot for Utilities is very malleable, and are situation dependent. Decoy is a life-saver in WvW when you are alone or in a small group, providing a stun breaker and a…well, decoy for the enemies to target. Null Field strips boons from enemies and conditions from allies, useful for mid-sized skirmishes and PvE situations with condition heavy foes in dungeons or Fractals. For jumping puzzles, portal bombs and “espionage,” Portal is hard to beat in out-of-the-box tactics and support. Can also be used in combat in a pinch for desperate escapes.
Time Warp/Mass Invisibility:
These two skills have very, VERY different uses. Time Warp is obviously amazing as it provides group-wide Quickness for a surprisingly long 10s, allowing for massive damage output in short order which is great for large scale combats or turning the tides. Mass Invisibility on the other hand allows for ambushes and escapes for a small group by providing, well, Invisibility. I prefer Mass Invisibility for small tactical groups who want to engage other small groups in ambushes, and be given an option to escape against larger ones.
The thing to remember about Mesmers is that they have a wealth of unique, useful Utility skills. Play around with them and get a feeling for what you find most useful.
Mesmerizing
Traits:
The traits are statted out to provide the best stat bonuses and a host of useful traits that fit with our DPS Support strategy.
20 Domination: Provides Power and Condition Duration. Power is useful for damage (obviously) and Condition Duration helps our Bleed stacking secondary damage. We pick up Empowered Illusions for extra Phantasm damage from Phantasmal Warden and Phantasmal Berserker. We also pick up Greatsword Training for the reduced cooldown on our main offensive tool (which allows for Mirror Blade spam and increased Phantasmal Berserker production, amongst other things) and the extra 50 power is always welcome. The minor traits aren’t very important, but do provide the ability to add a good number of stacks of Vulnerability upon doing a Diversion shatter or other interrupt.
Alternatives: If you find yourself shattering more often, you could also replace one of the 2 with Mental Torment for increased Shatter damage, or Crippling Dissipation for Cripple support.
20 Dueling: Dueling provides us with Precision and Critical Damage. Most of our damage is going to come from crits, making this an ideal line. I pick up Phantasmal Fury for increased Phantasm crits (since they are the major source of our damage regardless). I also pick up Desperate Decoy for added survivability. Going Invisible in WvW is better than SPvP due to more hectic battlegrounds, and in PvE mobs are too stupid to go looking for you. The Minor traits you get are amazing. Critical Infusion provides vigor on your numerous crits, meaning you will be able to dodge VERY often, making you very mobile in combat. The highlight of the tree however is Sharper Images. With this build, your Clones and Phantasms will crit approximately ~73% of the time, and each time they do they will add stacks of Bleed. Phantasmal Warden hits up to 12 times and Phantasmal Berserker hits 3-4 times per whirl. It also works well with Mirror Blade Clones as they hit 3x per basic attack, each one capable of proccing a Bleed stack.
Alternatives: You can definitely do worse than replacing Desperate Decoy for Deceptive Evasion. It provides more fuel for your shatters for doing something you were probably going to do anyway. In fact, I’m not sure Desperate Decoy is the correct pick and more research will be needed to determine which is actually better.
30 Inspiration: Inspiration provides increased Healing (meh) and Vitality. Vitality definitely helps our survivability some, as we are otherwise mostly offensive in nature. I choose Glamour Mastery for better cooldowns on some of the most useful Utility skills (Portal, Null Field, Feedback and Time Warp are all considered Glamours). One of the 2 main reasons for choosing this line is to get Warden’s Feedback. This makes Temporal Curtain into a Reflect wall in addition to providing Cripple and Swiftness, and Phantasmal Warden into a whirling zone of death that has to be AoE’d down or risk approaching. The decreased cooldowns also ensures that with proper Rune choices, you can have permanent Swiftness for field mobility. Lastly, we pick up Restorative Illusions. With an average of 2 Illusions out we can heal for a respectable 1124 in an AoE upon shattering, or 1316 with 3 Illusions. Minor traits include giving Phantasms Retaliation, creating a punishing mechanic for taking out your Phantasms, Phantasmal Healing which provides an AoE of Regeneration to allies and the second main reason for taking this line, Phantasmal Strength which gives another whopping +15% damage to Phantasms.
Alternatives: Restorative Illusions can be replaced with Shattered Conditions, depending on who you are facing. You could also go with Mender’s Purity when solo for easy access to a self-condition removal spell.
Mesmerizing
Equipment:
My equipment is mostly a mix of Berserker and Knights gear to have a very offensive build with some defense. This area can be mixed and matched to taste, but I will provide my justification for the equipment choices I have made.
Weapons:
Berserker Greatsword, because I expect to be at range I go full-out Berserkers for increased damage. Superior Sigil of Earth is chosen to add some sustained damage of a different type. Could also be swapped out with a Superior Sigil of Rage for the off-chance you could get Quickness at a good time.
Berserker’s Sword + Knight’s Focus, I mix Knight’s into this equipment because I expect to be in short range to get off a Blurred Frenzy and be within range to Illusionary Leap. I have a Superior Sigil of Accuracy to increase crit chance for a hopefully devastating Blurred Frenzy. Superior Sigil of Perception is to increase crit chance and damage even higher for both weapon sets.
Armour:
Berserker’s Helm/Gloves/Leggings/Boots for damage and crit chance/damage.
Knight’s Coat and Mantle for some defense while not sacrificing much in damage.
5x Superior Rune of the Air, we get 5 of these for increased crit damage (where most of our damage is coming from anyway) and very importantly for the Swiftness on healing. This, along with Temporal Curtain with reduced cooldown from Warden’s Feedback is enough to provide you with permanent Swiftness. We don’t expect to get hit often enough (we should be evading/otherwise avoiding damage as opposed to tanking it) to make 6th Rune worth it. A Superior Rune of Divinity provides 2% critical damage, and buffs a few stats just enough to be worth it.
Amulet, Rings and Back:
Berserker + Valkyrie Amulet/Ring/Earring: This gives us a good mix of offensive stats and some Vitality. With everything all told, we should be around 18,700 health, which is very respectable along with our Toughness from Knight Equipment.
Knight Ring/Earring: These provide us with some more Toughness without sacrificing much attack-wise.
Berserker Back: That last bit of offense to push us up over 50%+ crit rate and around +80% crit damage.
Precision Infusions: I use Precision Infusions to get those crit stats up as high as I can. A couple percentage points can equate to a lot of damage in this build.
Mesmerizing
Very nice guide, thank you.
From your setup I am assuming that this is build for solo roaming?
Another alternative in Dueling is Blade Training.
This build is geared towards solo survivability as well as small group (5-10) play. When in a zerg you want to swap Decoy with Null Field and have Time Warp available because individual survival is less important and Mass Invisibility is harder to leverage well in zergs. Portal instead of Blink is another good substitute in a large group scenario. Also I don’t like Blade Training in this build because our Sword is actually our least used weapon so CD reduction is less key.
Mesmerizing
(edited by True Seeker.3682)