Easy, effective build for a casual noob mes?

Easy, effective build for a casual noob mes?

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Posted by: Rainshine.5493

Rainshine.5493

I’m slowly leveling a mesmer, largely for being able to help others w/ JPs. That said I’d like to not be a total drag, and maybe even do a dungeon occasionally at 80 (though that’s not an immediate priority). Functioning well in open PvE/WvW for those JPs is my priority.

I ask for easy because I know I won’t have time to devote to really learning all the class ins and outs. This is a character I will only pull out occasionally most likely, so I’m trying to be realistic, here.

Any links would be appreciated. I saw the mes guide on Dulfy but that’s aimed only at dungeons so less useful for me.

Ruse Torrent (elementalist) on JQ
trixnotes tumblr: quick hits of lore | personal tumblr (some other GW2 stuff)

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Posted by: Ross Biddle.2367

Ross Biddle.2367

You know, Mes isn’t a casual class. But heres a breakdown for you.

Dungeons full zerk, sword/pistol sword/sword.

WvW, for roaming anything PU. Condi is most forgiving due to high armor and/or vit depending on your armor choice (rabid or dire).

Or just go greatsword with a group or zerg and pew pew from range.

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Posted by: Rainshine.5493

Rainshine.5493

You know, Mes isn’t a casual class. But heres a breakdown for you.

Dungeons full zerk, sword/pistol sword/sword.

WvW, for roaming anything PU. Condi is most forgiving due to high armor and/or vit depending on your armor choice (rabid or dire).

Or just go greatsword with a group or zerg and pew pew from range.

I realize mes isn’t really as casual, which is why I ask for the most straightforward build.

For dungeons I already have the guide on Dulfy’s site, so I’m OK there once I get to that stage.

Just saying “PU build” doesn’t help me a whole lot as I’ve only recently returned and I’m not savvy at all on the current meta. I’m assuming a power variant. Googling gave me this? But that doesn’t really suggest traits or even weapons beyond torch. I’m assuming I want as much stealth as possible based on Prismatic Understanding itself.

I’m … not trying to kitten all over somebody offering help, but did you actually read my OP? As I said, this is mostly a “help people with JPs” character so focus on PvE without wearing a huge “kick me” sign in WvW.

Ruse Torrent (elementalist) on JQ
trixnotes tumblr: quick hits of lore | personal tumblr (some other GW2 stuff)

Easy, effective build for a casual noob mes?

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Posted by: Miku Lawrence.6329

Miku Lawrence.6329

Yes, PU is abuse of stealth utilities + Torch, 4 4 6 0 0 build. Either condition (clone death spam) or power (phantasms damage)

Snow Crows [SC]

Easy, effective build for a casual noob mes?

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Posted by: Ross Biddle.2367

Ross Biddle.2367

You know, Mes isn’t a casual class. But heres a breakdown for you.

Dungeons full zerk, sword/pistol sword/sword.

WvW, for roaming anything PU. Condi is most forgiving due to high armor and/or vit depending on your armor choice (rabid or dire).

Or just go greatsword with a group or zerg and pew pew from range.

I realize mes isn’t really as casual, which is why I ask for the most straightforward build.

For dungeons I already have the guide on Dulfy’s site, so I’m OK there once I get to that stage.

Just saying “PU build” doesn’t help me a whole lot as I’ve only recently returned and I’m not savvy at all on the current meta. I’m assuming a power variant. Googling gave me this? But that doesn’t really suggest traits or even weapons beyond torch. I’m assuming I want as much stealth as possible based on Prismatic Understanding itself.

I’m … not trying to kitten all over somebody offering help, but did you actually read my OP? As I said, this is mostly a “help people with JPs” character so focus on PvE without wearing a huge “kick me” sign in WvW.

Well even simpler answer to a JP focused Mes is- equip portal, work your mad jp skillz. Maybe focus for swiftness too to help with some jumps.

For builds the mesmer forum has an extensive list in the sticky section.

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Posted by: frifox.5283

frifox.5283

For jps get a set of centaur runes and drop all points into boon duration line and equip Mantra cd reduction trait. Then, set your Mantra heal on autocast and have fun. This will provide you and everyone in 1,200 radius with permanent swiftness. Very handy for doing jps.

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Posted by: Rainshine.5493

Rainshine.5493

For builds the mesmer forum has an extensive list in the sticky section.

Yeah, I saw the list, assuming you mean this one. Unfortunately there isn’t one called “PU PvE” or anything obvious. I see very few builds labeled PvE, and a few offer some odd advice (maybe I’m vastly underestimating a mesmer’s heals, but full cleric gear seems like a waste and I’m seeing builds advocating that).

I feel like this is a situation where you think I’m not trying to help myself at all, but to someone who’s level 7, this stuff is exceptionally confusing. Without a lot more experience I have no idea what’s a “good” build and what isn’t, and most of the PU stuff I’m finding is with WvW only in mind — which might work fine in PvE, but I don’t have the experience to know that.

… and obviously, I will use swiftness/portal for JPs. I just don’t know what to do for everything else.

ALL that said. Would something like Hidden Cat or Shatter Cat work OK, assuming I went with less defensive gear for open PvE? I looked at those before posting actually but wasn’t sure how it’d translate.

For jps get a set of centaur runes and drop all points into boon duration line and equip Mantra cd reduction trait. Then, set your Mantra heal on autocast and have fun. This will provide you and everyone in 1,200 radius with permanent swiftness. Very handy for doing jps.

Unexpectedly getting swiftness screws me up. I personally would not appreciate a mesmer forcing swiftness on me — I try to avoid doing it to others on my ele.

Ruse Torrent (elementalist) on JQ
trixnotes tumblr: quick hits of lore | personal tumblr (some other GW2 stuff)

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Posted by: Ross Biddle.2367

Ross Biddle.2367

Ok. I’m serious when I say for PvE you want full zerk and just let your phantasms do all your work. No PU or anything else necessary for PvE. If you want to PvE, honestly, there are better classes for it. So let’s move on to WvW.

Here, for example, is my Holy Hell WvW roaming build. It uses PU, has high mobility for a Mesmer, and is relatively forgiving should you get jumped and whailed on hard. There’s some gameplay vids to watch to get an idea of what’s going on, and you can also follow the link to the pre-update thread to see some more gameplay pre patch.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/The-Holy-Hell-Build-2-0/first

You can contrast it with this build focused on solo roaming, 1v1 fights. Full zerk, uses interrupts and phantasms for damage. A lot harder to play effectively.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Build-Power-Buton/first#post4175772

Meanwhile Hiddencat is a PU power build for roaming people find quite effective. So yes it’d work “ok”. Shatter for WvW has a harder setup, and failure usually means death. You’ll also become thief food. It’s a lot less forgiving, so not the way to go for a casual player.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNAR8fl0npRtlpxKNcrNyqhY6SnWdqllezlAA-T1CEABJcRAKUJod7PElSk40NwkSLJeCANpMQRVKaUdFAOABBAQA45O3mP3mPnUAjqMC-w

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Posted by: Rainshine.5493

Rainshine.5493

Thank you very much for the links. At a glance there’s good explanation but as I read further I may pop back here with any questions I have.

Again, thank you.

Ruse Torrent (elementalist) on JQ
trixnotes tumblr: quick hits of lore | personal tumblr (some other GW2 stuff)

Easy, effective build for a casual noob mes?

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Posted by: ASP.8093

ASP.8093

Okay, so, really basic PvE stuff. It kinda varies by level since traits are a big deal, and also your ability to DPS changes significantly as you get access to different kinds of gear.

Personally, for casual PvE, I like:
Greatsword – You can avoid a lot of melee damage by learning to move and time your evades, but if you’re trying to make your way through unfamiliar content or just don’t want to focus a lot, staying at range is excellent. GS lets you do that, with a pretty good burst, tolerable multitarget ability, and a knockback wave to keep the mobs off you. It’s pretty good as long as you have decent damage-oriented stats (like mostly zerk armor). If you’re leveling and your greatsword kills are slow, try Staff instead. Then you can putter around killing things using Phase Retreat to keep out of trouble.
Sword mainhand – One of your better sources of consistent damage; Blurred Frenzy lets you “tank” things a bit, good fast cooldowns when traited.
Focus offhand – The phantasm is a bit buggy, but it’s still fairly reliable in PvE. It’s a good source of multi-target damage. Once you get the Warden’s Feedback trait, both focus skills reflect projectiles; killing enemies with their own ranged attacks is both fun and effective.

Definitely experiment with the other weapons and stuff. And go back every once in a while when you get access to better traits and gear. The weapons I thought were junky at level 10 are some of my favorites at 80.

Phantasm builds are popular in PvE because you can get decent sustained damage output going once they’re up. 15 points in Illusions gives you a 20% cooldown reduction across the board. 10 points in Domination lets you buy +15% phantasm damage. People often take the weapon-specific cooldown reduction skills as well (they stack even if the tooltips make it seem like the don’t), and 25 in Inspiration is worth an extra 15% phantasm damage (easy to pick up if you’ve already spent 20 to get Warden’s Feedback).

Nemain The Eyeless · [JOY] · Tarnished Coast · http://tcwvw.com

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Posted by: Rainshine.5493

Rainshine.5493

Thanks ASP, that’s very helpful. I have not yet tried greatsword, will do that asap.

Ruse Torrent (elementalist) on JQ
trixnotes tumblr: quick hits of lore | personal tumblr (some other GW2 stuff)

Easy, effective build for a casual noob mes?

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Posted by: ASP.8093

ASP.8093

I hated greatsword at levels 10, 30, and 60, but love it at 80 (including in WvW). So go figure. Sometimes traits make all the difference. And sometimes it’s gear. The 4-2-3 burst is a lot better when you have good weapon sigils and decent Power, Precision, Ferocity all boosting the damage.

In WvW, I mainly play a “Hidden Cat” like build with Deceptive Evasion. What I like about it is that you have a lot of ways to survive group bursts. But you do have to play pretty aggressively to bring down some people in 1-on-1.

~

If you have karma lying around, you can easily make a gear set for condi PU really cheaply. For example, you can gear a “Napalm Cat” condi PU build almost entirely with Orrian karma vendors (so you don’t have to spend any gold). Just pick up Rabid trinkets from the Cathedral of Zephyrs, get all the Rabid pieces you can from the Temple of Balthazar, and then pick fill in your armor with Rabid gear from any other temple and buy a couple of Baltahzar runes off the TP. Builds using fancier runes like Perplexity are going to cost a bunch of gold, though.

Nemain The Eyeless · [JOY] · Tarnished Coast · http://tcwvw.com

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Posted by: Rainshine.5493

Rainshine.5493

I hated greatsword at levels 10, 30, and 60, but love it at 80

Heh, I had the same experience with focus on my ele. I will keep that in mind. Thanks again for the tips!

Ruse Torrent (elementalist) on JQ
trixnotes tumblr: quick hits of lore | personal tumblr (some other GW2 stuff)

Easy, effective build for a casual noob mes?

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Posted by: Kaiyanwan.8521

Kaiyanwan.8521

Go Lazy Kai, if you don’t like to shatter take the Phantastic Phantasm variant.

It won’t get any easier than that. You will find them in my signature.

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Posted by: Rainshine.5493

Rainshine.5493

Go Lazy Kai, if you don’t like to shatter take the Phantastic Phantasm variant.

It won’t get any easier than that. You will find them in my signature.

Heh, enjoying this guide.

Killing things in PvE gets old fast anyway, so the faster the mobs die, the better. Now, if the mobs die fast because you use your keybord like a korean StarCraft player, good for you. I am lazy though, so here is my advise:

This sounds like playing my main, lol. And yes, I am 100 percent looking for a more relaxed experience with this alt. Appreciate the guide/tip.

Ruse Torrent (elementalist) on JQ
trixnotes tumblr: quick hits of lore | personal tumblr (some other GW2 stuff)