Guild Wars 2

Hello !

I run a condi mesmer mostly for roaming. Here’s my current build with some inconsistencies due to using stuff that I formerly had.

Anyway, I used to have a more mixed stats gear (viper and rabid), and I recently switched to full dire/trailblazer, much to my disappointement actually. I’m not sure whether it’s the loss of the direct damage part, or if it’s the illusionary reversion nerf (my bet on that one), but I’m not so happy with it anymore

I’m lacking a lot of pressure, since I can’t add stacks that much. The high durability is nice for some duels, but I feel utterly ridiculous when I see the time I need to take a camp… (I’m far faster with other classes, power or condis). I may switch to more trailblazer trinkets, but I’m not sure it’d help.

Any advices ?

It might very well be both.

The switch of gear will have taken a big chunk of offensive stats away for more tankiness.

You’ve lost significant amounts of precision (from rabid) and power (from viper) in favor of only expertise (which in a wvw roaming build can be useful but loses to condi cleanse). You’ve gained mostly defensive stats which is quite useful, if you were having a hard time surviving.

Going by what you said your build worked for you, meaning you did not suffer any significant survival issues. Exchanging more survival for less burst might very well hurt your roaming capability.

Looking at your utilities, Mirror Images could maybe be exchanged for SoD for some extra condition damage (since you have 0 direct damage now) and an on demand stun.

I might also exchange Phantasmal Disenchater. You have Restorative Illusions which should cover you condition cleanse wise, maybe exchange that for Signet of Illusions for more burst or Signet of Midnight for the condition duration and on demand blind (for synergy with Inemptitude).

Otherwise change some gear back and try to find the sweetspot which works for you.

The IR nerf will have had some effect, but since that is not likely to get reverted you have to work with what you can.

Since I get into a fair number of outnumbered fights, I need pretty high survivability.

To get more burst in my condi attacks, I used balthazar runes to extend burn duration. Then the burst sequence is to do prestige and iMage twice using continuum split. That can get somewhere around 10 – 14 burn stacks. If I do that correctly, it takes about 20 seconds to kill all the camp guards (if they are grouped together).

This is a little video I made to illustrate. https://youtu.be/Fa1vwgpnZdU

It’s not the same burst you get from power attacks, but it might be a good tradeoff.

Dire and traib are both defensive stat sets if would be brolen if you had the same preasure with this much added survivability. The stat sets are already too strong imo.

Thanks everyone for the feedback !

zealex.9410:

Dire and traib are both defensive stat sets if would be brolen if you had the same preasure with this much added survivability. The stat sets are already too strong imo.

That does not answer my question. I can’t help but to tell a little bit more about the situation. I used to have a mostly exotic set, with rabid and viper. When I happened to be able to craft an ascended set, I decided to go full dire/trailblazer, because I’m reading to nausea on the forums that those stats are “oh so powerful”, or “ez mode”. I wanted to give it a try, and that’s honestly wrong. I don’t feel dragged by them at all, otherwise, I wouldn’t be here.

Cyninja.2954:

It might very well be both.

The switch of gear will have taken a big chunk of offensive stats away for more tankiness.

You’ve lost significant amounts of precision (from rabid) and power (from viper) in favor of only expertise (which in a wvw roaming build can be useful but loses to condi cleanse). You’ve gained mostly defensive stats which is quite useful, if you were having a hard time surviving.

Going by what you said your build worked for you, meaning you did not suffer any significant survival issues. Exchanging more survival for less burst might very well hurt your roaming capability.

I indeed feel so. It’s a sad biais in this game that the most of your survivability comes from being able to end the fight fast (either by winning or running away). I didn’t have that many issues given a fairly high toughness (rabid), cleanses (inspiration) and the usual mesmer mobility and decoys. I’ll try to put back more offensive stats.

Cyninja.2954:

Looking at your utilities, Mirror Images could maybe be exchanged for SoD for some extra condition damage (since you have 0 direct damage now) and an on demand stun.

I might also exchange Phantasmal Disenchater. You have Restorative Illusions which should cover you condition cleanse wise, maybe exchange that for Signet of Illusions for more burst or Signet of Midnight for the condition duration and on demand blind (for synergy with Inemptitude).

I’ll try to put signets as you suggested, eventhough I’ve never been fond of them (in any class). I had those summons in order to keep shatter pressure. Mirror images was also a fair stun breaker. Disenchanter’s first purpose wasn’t to cleanse me. It’s mainly a low CD summon, and the boon breaker thing is useful too. I often switched to defender too.

eldenbri.1059:

Since I get into a fair number of outnumbered fights, I need pretty high survivability.

To get more burst in my condi attacks, I used balthazar runes to extend burn duration. Then the burst sequence is to do prestige and iMage twice using continuum split. That can get somewhere around 10 – 14 burn stacks. If I do that correctly, it takes about 20 seconds to kill all the camp guards (if they are grouped together).

This is a little video I made to illustrate. https://youtu.be/Fa1vwgpnZdU

It’s not the same burst you get from power attacks, but it might be a good tradeoff.

Thanks for the idea. I’m sorry I’m not so fond about it, because I don’t remember efficiently burst sequences (and I’m a bit clumsy).

Guards and NPCs don’t take a ton of damage from confusion or torment, they can’t attack while moving so they either take the bigger confusion damage hit or the bigger torment, not both.

In terms of build changes, I would switch well of calamity because it does very little for you, signet of illusions to refresh your shatters you should be able to summon disenchanter, weapon phantasm and clone. Shatter them, get all back, shatter again, switch weapon, repeat as needed. Eventually you’ll be at a point where you run out of shatters and that’s where the signet will come in handy.

I personally don’t find disenchanter that useful unless dueling as I get outnumbered more often and play power builds so it’s of limited use to me but it will help with the iReversion change as it’s a phantasm.

Other good options instead of calamity would be decoy, defender, blink or portal depending on the situation, I personally find blink invaluable.

ThomasC.1056:

I indeed feel so. It’s a sad biais in this game that the most of your survivability comes from being able to end the fight fast (either by winning or running away).

For small scale or 1v1 roaming yes, because most players do not survive a dedicated burst. This becomes less effective against experienced players.

The time aspect also plays a role because the longer the fight takes the higher the chance of additional parties getting involved. That’s not something a developer can design around on a class balance level.

ThomasC.1056:

I’ll try to put signets as you suggested, eventhough I’ve never been fond of them (in any class). I had those summons in order to keep shatter pressure.

With CS, chrono phantasma and IR shatter pressure should not be an issue. At least not for a condi build imo.

ThomasC.1056:

Mirror images was also a fair stun breaker.

In that case I’de replace it with decoy.

ThomasC.1056:

Disenchanter’s first purpose wasn’t to cleanse me. It’s mainly a low CD summon, and the boon breaker thing is useful too. I often switched to defender too.

Understandable, though eventually you have to prioritize, you won’t be able to counter out all enemy builds. I don’t feel that we need additional illusion summons on condition builds that are aimed at outlasting an enemy (which your build has turned into stat wise). The boon removal while useful can be achieved via other means.

ThomasC.1056:

When I happened to be able to craft an ascended set, I decided to go full dire/trailblazer, because I’m reading to nausea on the forums that those stats are “oh so powerful”, or “ez mode”.

The sets are superior to their vanilla counterparts due to simple stat advantage. It depends on the build and playstyle though of the player and how he utilises those stats. Traiblazer will vastly outperform viper in any bigger scale engagements where survival becomes more important while providing viable small scale performance.

Dire and Rabid often are used in combination and the amount of precision requirement of the class to perform will give one or the other an advantage.

As was mentioned, outnumbered fights which happen quite often in wvw will also benefit the more defensive stats (as long as enough offense is present). The best approach is to mix and match. The stat increase switching from exotic to ascended armor will not cover the difference in prefix type though. This has been pointed out multiple times from people with ascended since the stat increase from exotic to ascended is minimal (on armor).

Worst case, reforge the ascended armor to stats of your liking.

Hey Thomas

Definitely play whatever you like best. I know what you mean by your comment about burst sequences and feeling clumsy. I never played any kind of player versus player game before I started in WvW four years ago, and my reflexes are not great.

But no matter what kind of build you end up choosing, I think you want to practice having a “burst” or a sequence of moves that work well. Especially with the “free” casts you get when you use Continuum Shift, being able to use skills efficiently makes a world of difference in how much damage you do.

Over time, I remapped all my keys to fit my hands (my fingers are too short to reliably reach the Function keys on my keyboard). And I bought an 18-button mouse and trained my thumb to be able to hit the important skills quickly (most of the time… lol)

Good luck!

ThomasC.1056:

Thanks everyone for the feedback !

zealex.9410:

Dire and traib are both defensive stat sets if would be brolen if you had the same preasure with this much added survivability. The stat sets are already too strong imo.

That does not answer my question. I can’t help but to tell a little bit more about the situation. I used to have a mostly exotic set, with rabid and viper. When I happened to be able to craft an ascended set, I decided to go full dire/trailblazer, because I’m reading to nausea on the forums that those stats are “oh so powerful”, or “ez mode”. I wanted to give it a try, and that’s honestly wrong. I don’t feel dragged by them at all, otherwise, I wouldn’t be here.

You should expect less dmg by oing this tansition to stat types. The gear sets are op not really because you eneneceraly do more dmg but because you do a little less while having a kitten tone of defensive stats to keep you alive. And for power builds is rather hard to deal with that. I think a stat type is too strong when i can get a comfortable 15stacks of torment confusion on mess and have like 27k hp and what? 1.8 -2k toughness?

ThomasC.1056:

Hello !

I run a condi mesmer mostly for roaming. Here’s my current build with some inconsistencies due to using stuff that I formerly had.

Anyway, I used to have a more mixed stats gear (viper and rabid), and I recently switched to full dire/trailblazer, much to my disappointement actually. I’m not sure whether it’s the loss of the direct damage part, or if it’s the illusionary reversion nerf (my bet on that one), but I’m not so happy with it anymore

I’m lacking a lot of pressure, since I can’t add stacks that much. The high durability is nice for some duels, but I feel utterly ridiculous when I see the time I need to take a camp… (I’m far faster with other classes, power or condis). I may switch to more trailblazer trinkets, but I’m not sure it’d help.

Any advices ?

You should run mixed gear. the thing about Trailblazer, Viper, Sinister, Carrion, rabid and even Rampager, is that it all has pretty incredible synergy. You are missing that.

I would also ditch the geomancy sigils. Problem with them is their limited range and too often they go off but its a wasted CD cause your opponent is uneffected. Use something that is either 100% “on hit” or 60% crit chance, or constant.

Also your utilities, lack of blink, and your wells are power based and bad because their offensive effects don’t take place until the end (except for gravity). Run stuff thats more in tune with being tricky, more mesmer like, and/or more suited for condi synergy and you’ll do much better. Also not enough overall stealth, just torch and only a single stun break without stealth or leap on it.

Switch your heal to Mirror. Its a low healing value but has very low CD and you will also use it for reflect and additional condi cleanse due to its low CD. And its not dependant on how many illusions you have up, so more controlled and far more flexible. And it makes a better sound when used

Keep in mind that no matter what, there are some hard counter builds that you will not be able to deal with until you take a trip back to the spawn point, adjuts some of your traits and gear to deal with the specific opponent(s), then go get them.

Hope this helps you out a bit.

Thanks everyone for all the feedback and positive thoughts ! It’s really nice from you to take some time to help me.

I’m currently giving a try to some signets. Some things turn out in a satisfactory way.
I’ll also get rid of geomancy sigils, maybe in favor of a sigil of malice, or maybe blight…

I’m keeping the stat change for a later and deeper revamp, because I’m reluctant wasting my nightmare runes.

Thanks again !

Geomancy sigils can be very strong depending on your playstyle. If you like to stick close and personal, you can get a lot of mileage out of those. If you find yourself mostly at mid-range, you’ll be better off with something else.

I add a question. WHen you play dire, do you use scepter or sword ? I began playing scepter /torch staff but for 1vs 1 many time i prefer sword shield staff. Scepter sometime seems to me weak even if in a fulll condi setup it should be better. Any advise ?

I play a similar build, except I run perplexity runes and shield off-hand. I used to run torch but replace chrono with the PU line. Problem is it does not have enough cleanse. It is still strong if played right. The problem with it is if the fight takes too long , the enemy just runs away. I think hard counters are rangers. Thieves would usually run away. The goal is to have 100% confusion duration with food. It’s still pretty strong IMO.

ThomasC.1056:

Thanks everyone for the feedback !

zealex.9410:

Dire and traib are both defensive stat sets if would be brolen if you had the same preasure with this much added survivability. The stat sets are already too strong imo.

That does not answer my question. I can’t help but to tell a little bit more about the situation. I used to have a mostly exotic set, with rabid and viper. When I happened to be able to craft an ascended set, I decided to go full dire/trailblazer, because I’m reading to nausea on the forums that those stats are “oh so powerful”, or “ez mode”. I wanted to give it a try, and that’s honestly wrong. I don’t feel dragged by them at all, otherwise, I wouldn’t be here.

When people say that these stat sets are easy mode its because you can trait your shatters to spam loads of confusion and torment on enemies, and then you have the defensive stats to help you stay alive and outlast their cleanses and heals, while continuously applying new stacks of confusion and torment until they die. Its most effective against other players, not against the guards and NPCs in WvW. So definitely for taking camps its not the best option, that would be to build as offensively as you feel comfortable and just kill the guards with burst. The defensive stat sets really only shine when you get in duels with other players, especially when outnumbered.

In response to the OP, you mentioned what’s wrong with your build in the beginning – it’s due to inconsistencies in your gear. If you have wrong/mismatched gear your not going to get the damage you should have. When taking Trailblazer/dire your damage is going to come from stacking condi duration and damage only. Illusionary reversion is not the issue.

Few things to fix with your gear:
- Your runes aren’t very good. In PvP they’re nice due to limited options, for WvW you have a lot more choices. Depending on gear/stat mix some good options are anti-toxin + sweet bean buns, perplexity + veggie pizza, torment, any runes that add more varying condis/effects.

Next thing always account for food. You can’t afford not to have that as it can drastically change fights, especially if fighting outnumbered.

Lastly, the way this build works is you’ll only kill people who fight you. If a target wants to flee and has decent cleanse/health remaining – there’s not much you can do to stop them, especially if you are using scepter torch and staff.

If played correctly, you are invincible 1v1 and have enough survival to outlast or flee from most things.

it is not more effective with sword shield as in spvp ? scepter creates clone at the 3rd attack with with sword you can create a clone immediatly with sword 3. And with scepter staff you have 2 range weapon …

imo condi mesmer is just meh. Confusion does so little after the huge nerf and mesmer’s condi stacking is pretty bad compared to other condi classes in this condi meta. Takes too long, last too little and most enemies will just cleanse it off.

so after finally unlocking the specialization I decided to try my Mesmer in wvw

idk I am having some trouble I tried staff but I can hardly get any stacks of conditions they just get cleansed off and if there is to many people around the bounces seem useless because every time they just bounce off to a new person ..

staff seems to be more useful in pvp where u might be fighting 2 people so at least your bounces keep bouncing to the same people instead of a new one every time

tried going power GS but now I am just super squishy and conditions just chew me up

I do pretty decent in pvp but wvw as a Mesmer is a whole new beast I don’t know what do I am so lost

caveman,

Try Scepter/Shield + Sword/Torch + Baelfire Runes if running condi. Insp 2/2/1, Illus 3/3/3, Chrono 2/2/3. Healing Mantra, Decoy, Blink, Mirror Images, Mass Invis.

Running power is hard mode (imo). Condi is a more forgiving playstyle. I still vastly prefer power over condi, but yes, you will be squishy and dealing with 1vX will generally be more difficult than w/ condi.
Try Scepter/(Sword, Shield, or Focus) + Sword/Shield if running power. All marauder w/ a couple zerk trinkets. Insp 2/2/1, Illus 2/1/3, Chrono 2/2/3. Healing Mantra, Decoy, Blink, Mirror Images, Mass Invis.

I only use GS anymore if I feel like running a pure glass GS + Sw/Torch burst build. I mostly prefer Scepter/XX over GS otherwise.