Guild Wars 2

Idk how any mesmer plays without focus in wvw. Certainly in zerging. It’s just a level above any other weapon in WvW.

Go crazy and have fun ;-)

https://youtu.be/09NNBa1KZEE

I mean, it’s fine I suppose. God-tier is certainly pushing things. Maybe if stability didn’t exist…

Disregarding pulling people off walls (because that’s its main use now) and zerging (because almost anything works) I want to be as polite as possible while being honest – get jumped by a competent thief, a power or condi burst from say a mesmer, or any competent players for that matter and it’ll be a different story. None of those enemies kited well – they all just tried to facetank in your aoes and shoot blindly into the reflects and made no attempt to outrange/dodge/block/otherwise avoid the curtain pull, which in itself wouldn’t do much to discourage a thief for example that was really after you. Nevermind if you get jumped in an outnumbered situation and having no stealth to disengage.

Please appreciate I’m not trying to be rude or unpleasant – on the contrary I’m generally super friendly and well mannered. But this video does very little to counter the argument that Focus is below average and needs buffs. I appreciate you making the video to support your love for Focus, but it doesn’t change that it is a sub par weapon, nowhere near “godlike”, that Torch with one skill (Prestige) is better and Shield is also better.

Truth be told mesmer doesn’t have any “godlike” weapons. A godlike weapon is something like Scrapper’s Hammer before it got repeatedly nerfed.

If you think Focus is Godtier right now you shoulda seen it back when the pull on #4 was instant.
People literally couldn’t see it coming & couldn’t dodge it.

But yeah, even then stability kittens it up a lot.

Lolstability,
Like omg nobody ever cast a cc again because stability exists!

Focus is deceptively good. Doesn’t do enough button-smash big numbers or spam the screen with (block) float things so it bad. Ya okies. Well best of luck to you guys. I guess all the fun belong to me.

I mean, trying not to be rude but to me, besides pulling people off keeps, you won fights despite focus, not because of it. Many times your pull failed because of stability and I even saw you pull a guy, not even towards you, for absolutely no reason before I quite watching the video.

Given how many extremely overtuned builds I personally encounter while roaming, choosing to use Focus is like giving myself a handicap. I don’t know if the scene is different on NA, but on EU you will run into good thieves and mesmers in particular, but also solid players of all classes, and believe me I have run Focus, Torch, Shield… all weapon combinations – likelihood of dying is far greater when using a Focus than when using Torch or Shield, Staff, Greatsword.

No one wants to button smash cheese all over the place, but when vast majority of opponents are on the HoT powercreeped bandwagon, trying to play elegant is not effective anymore.

Focus is an elegant weapon for a more civilised age. The age that was before HoT, before specialisations.

Always found focus fun in pvp ppl never expect it and if there falling dmg the weapon will get insta value.

Xstein.2187:

I mean, trying not to be rude but to me, besides pulling people off keeps, you won fights despite focus, not because of it. Many times your pull failed because of stability and I even saw you pull a guy, not even towards you, for absolutely no reason before I quite watching the video.

Then you completely missed the point, as most do.
The amount of utility stacked into a whole 2 skills.

In general it just bothers me when people say focus needs buffs because all they think it can do is pull people off walls and give swiftness. Really? I could have figured that out by using it for 5 min. People should put some effort into learning what you can do with a skill set instead of asking for buffs after looking at wiki for 30 seconds.

I don’t know maybe I make a part 2 to break down how to utilize focus for anyone who didn’t quite understand what they were watching. I sometimes forget that focus is the forgotten offhand that not nearly enough attempt to use cause no bambam big number pewpew loot. I’m just not sure its actually worth the effort though.

Justine.6351:

I don’t know maybe I make a part 2 to break down how to utilize focus for anyone who didn’t quite understand what they were watching. I sometimes forget that focus is the forgotten offhand that not nearly enough attempt to use cause no bambam big number pewpew loot. I’m just not sure its actually worth the effort though.

Maybe you should, because the rest of us are clearly too stupid to understand what you’re being so defensive and condescending about. Maybe part 2 can demonstrate these new discoveries unearthed in WvW 2017 that’s been overlooked since 2012.

Cool Aion track by the way.

zealex.9410:

Always found focus fun in pvp ppl never expect it and if there falling dmg the weapon will get insta value.

It’s certainly fun for the novelty, at least until you run into an opponent that shuts it down completely, where you wish you had the extra stealth or a block.

Personally running 3 stunbreaks and phase retreat I have never been bothered by a curtain pull that manages to connect (emphasis on “manages” as it doesn’t require much effort to outrange or otherwise avoid) on the now very rare occasions I run into a focus user whether in pvp or wvw. I just immediately get up out if it and go in for burst, where the reflect is meaningless and iWarden gets demolished.

Edit – anyway I too would like to see a part 2, particularly fights or duels against good thieves/mesmers, as well as some outnumbered situations where they really chase you.

kokowu.8745:

Justine.6351:

I don’t know maybe I make a part 2 to break down how to utilize focus for anyone who didn’t quite understand what they were watching. I sometimes forget that focus is the forgotten offhand that not nearly enough attempt to use cause no bambam big number pewpew loot. I’m just not sure its actually worth the effort though.

Maybe you should, because the rest of us are clearly too stupid to understand what you’re being so defensive and condescending about. Maybe part 2 can demonstrate these new discoveries unearthed in WvW 2017 that’s been overlooked since 2012.

Cool Aion track by the way.

Nah they been around, few have thought to utilize them is all.

For small example,

Everyone knows, drop temporal curtain in front of your zerg for easy swiftness for all.
How many have dropped it in front of enemy zerg? Cripple for all.

It’s one of those small actions a single player can do that can force many actions from many opponents.

Curunen.8729:

zealex.9410:

Always found focus fun in pvp ppl never expect it and if there falling dmg the weapon will get insta value.

It’s certainly fun for the novelty, at least until you run into an opponent that shuts it down completely, where you wish you had the extra stealth or a block.

Personally running 3 stunbreaks and phase retreat I have never been bothered by a curtain pull that manages to connect (emphasis on “manages”), on the now very rare occasions I run into a focus user whether in pvp or wvw. I just immediately get up out if it and go in for burst, where the reflect is meaningless and iWarden gets demolished.

Edit – anyway I too would like to see a part 2, particularly fights or duels against good thieves/mesmers, as well as some outnumbered situations where they really chase you.

Focus is not a dueling weapon. Well I’m not a dueler and so I don’t think I could produce a dueling vid with focus. In this vid I’m running a bunker boon support chrono with traited glamours. I intentionally started one of the clips of me killing a sentry to show just how low the damage actually is. It’s laughable that anyone could die to it, but ya know…it’s wvw.

Justine.6351:

Xstein.2187:

I mean, trying not to be rude but to me, besides pulling people off keeps, you won fights despite focus, not because of it. Many times your pull failed because of stability and I even saw you pull a guy, not even towards you, for absolutely no reason before I quite watching the video.

Then you completely missed the point, as most do.
The amount of utility stacked into a whole 2 skills.

In general it just bothers me when people say focus needs buffs because all they think it can do is pull people off walls and give swiftness. Really? I could have figured that out by using it for 5 min. People should put some effort into learning what you can do with a skill set instead of asking for buffs after looking at wiki for 30 seconds.

I don’t know maybe I make a part 2 to break down how to utilize focus for anyone who didn’t quite understand what they were watching. I sometimes forget that focus is the forgotten offhand that not nearly enough attempt to use cause no bambam big number pewpew loot. I’m just not sure its actually worth the effort though.

I’m well aware that focus was used a lot by Mesmers in WvW before HoT. A lot of this had to due with access to swiftness and no 25% movement trait.
1:03: Your focus interrupted your opponent, but you did not take advantage. Only used the time to cast TW.
1:23: Pulled with focus and use auto attack and mind wrack with NO illusions up.
2:04, you pulled the elementalist away from you, no reason.
2:40, blinked and your focus missed. You then killed the player without the focus, meaning no focus was needed.
3:51: killed guy without using focus, again it wasn’t needed. You then could have used focus to pull the guys away to secure the stomp. You instead use the focus pull after the other player already revived his friend. This focus pull was followed up by nothing. No shatter, attack, or anything. You just summoned another phantasm. This is when I quite watching.

Finally, why are all the players you fight getting caught with illusionary leap? This unfortunately makes me question the skill of the opponents you are fighting.

You could be using focus to pull foes together for shatters, pull a foe to follow up with illusionary leap incase the foe knows how to dodge it, or use the focus to pull foes away from a downed player before you stomp or away from a down ally to res them. Instead I didn’t see any of that in the video content I watched so far.

I’m not doubting focus has utility, no one is. That is why it is still used all the time in PvE. However, I am doubting its combat use. As others have mentioned, nothing new has been learned about focus. It has been used to pull people off walls and ledges in WvW for what seems like an eternity.

Curunen.8729:

Given how many extremely overtuned builds I personally encounter while roaming, choosing to use Focus is like giving myself a handicap. I don’t know if the scene is different on NA, but on EU you will run into good thieves and mesmers in particular, but also solid players of all classes, and believe me I have run Focus, Torch, Shield… all weapon combinations – likelihood of dying is far greater when using a Focus than when using Torch or Shield, Staff, Greatsword.

No one wants to button smash cheese all over the place, but when vast majority of opponents are on the HoT powercreeped bandwagon, trying to play elegant is not effective anymore.

Focus is an elegant weapon for a more civilised age. The age that was before HoT, before specialisations.

In NA, it’s pretty much the same. But it kind of depends on what server you’re against.

T1 probably doesn’t have many roamers, due to how over crowded it is up there. And skill lag.

Honestly? Kind of the same problem with T2, to a slightly lesser extent.

I’ve met many an awesome roamer in T3, and I don’t see someone using the focus standing much of a chance against them. You kind of need your blocks/stealth.

Justine.6351:

Curunen.8729:

zealex.9410:

Always found focus fun in pvp ppl never expect it and if there falling dmg the weapon will get insta value.

It’s certainly fun for the novelty, at least until you run into an opponent that shuts it down completely, where you wish you had the extra stealth or a block.

Personally running 3 stunbreaks and phase retreat I have never been bothered by a curtain pull that manages to connect (emphasis on “manages”), on the now very rare occasions I run into a focus user whether in pvp or wvw. I just immediately get up out if it and go in for burst, where the reflect is meaningless and iWarden gets demolished.

Edit – anyway I too would like to see a part 2, particularly fights or duels against good thieves/mesmers, as well as some outnumbered situations where they really chase you.

Focus is not a dueling weapon. Well I’m not a dueler and so I don’t think I could produce a dueling vid with focus. In this vid I’m running a bunker boon support chrono with traited glamours. I intentionally started one of the clips of me killing a sentry to show just how low the damage actually is. It’s laughable that anyone could die to it, but ya know…it’s wvw.

Well that’s the problem – if it’s not a duelling capable weapon then its not going to hold up in a situation where you’re solo or with an ally or two and outnumbered vs good players who are built for 1vx. Sure it’ll handle the odd loose zergling or hard counter projectile spammers if traited but not much else.

I am a solo player hence I need the tools to engage/survive any encounter (cue “roaming is dead”). Since HoT whenever I have attempted to use a Focus I have had less sustain and effectiveness than most other weapons (excluding pistol and offhand sword because they too both need to be looked at). Thieves in particular make using Focus not fun.

Believe me I love Focus and have enjoyed awesome plays with it in the past. I want it to be a thing again in all aspects of pvp – high level tournaments, ranked/unranked/hotjoin, large/medium/small/solo scale wvw.

Xstein.2187:

Justine.6351:

Xstein.2187:

I mean, trying not to be rude but to me, besides pulling people off keeps, you won fights despite focus, not because of it. Many times your pull failed because of stability and I even saw you pull a guy, not even towards you, for absolutely no reason before I quite watching the video.

Then you completely missed the point, as most do.
The amount of utility stacked into a whole 2 skills.

In general it just bothers me when people say focus needs buffs because all they think it can do is pull people off walls and give swiftness. Really? I could have figured that out by using it for 5 min. People should put some effort into learning what you can do with a skill set instead of asking for buffs after looking at wiki for 30 seconds.

I don’t know maybe I make a part 2 to break down how to utilize focus for anyone who didn’t quite understand what they were watching. I sometimes forget that focus is the forgotten offhand that not nearly enough attempt to use cause no bambam big number pewpew loot. I’m just not sure its actually worth the effort though.

I’m well aware that focus was used a lot by Mesmers in WvW before HoT. A lot of this had to due with access to swiftness and no 25% movement trait.
1:03: Your focus interrupted your opponent, but you did not take advantage. Only used the time to cast TW.
1:23: Pulled with focus and use auto attack and mind wrack with NO illusions up.
2:04, you pulled the elementalist away from you, no reason.
2:40, blinked and your focus missed. You then killed the player without the focus, meaning no focus was needed.
3:51: killed guy without using focus, again it wasn’t needed. You then could have used focus to pull the guys away to secure the stomp. You instead use the focus pull after the other player already revived his friend. This focus pull was followed up by nothing. No shatter, attack, or anything. You just summoned another phantasm. This is when I quite watching.

Finally, why are all the players you fight getting caught with illusionary leap? This unfortunately makes me question the skill of the opponents you are fighting.

You could be using focus to pull foes together for shatters, pull a foe to follow up with illusionary leap incase the foe knows how to dodge it, or use the focus to pull foes away from a downed player before you stomp or away from a down ally to res them. Instead I didn’t see any of that in the video content I watched so far.

I’m not doubting focus has utility, no one is. That is why it is still used all the time in PvE. However, I am doubting its combat use. As others have mentioned, nothing new has been learned about focus. It has been used to pull people off walls and ledges in WvW for what seems like an eternity.

Instead of poking at my bad gameplay as the reason focus is bad, why not challenge yourself and make the attempt to disprove beyond a shadow of a doubt that focus might actually be more in depth than “ROFL I pull people off walls”. And maybe actually watch the vid before deciding none of it is worth watching because you didn’t like 3min of it. “Hey I didn’t watch the vid, here’s my opinion on why you suck and vid suck, thumbs down gg”.

Fay.2357:

I mean, it’s fine I suppose. God-tier is certainly pushing things. Maybe if stability didn’t exist…

I mean, with deadeyes elite it wouldn’t surprise me if next expansion sees hard CC that ignores stability entirely, just hits right through it.

Godtier? So let’s see…. Focus has Temporal Curtain which grants swiftness and cripple to anyone who passes through it, pretty weak condition and boons. Then you can shatter it for to pull which is pretty strong if people don’t have Stability yeah it would be pretty effective to combo it with AoE bombs. (lol only bad zergs have no stability). Yeah Temporal Curtain is a pretty good skill.

Then we have Phantasmal Warden. We all know how kittenty illusions are in WvW and obviously Warden is one of the weakest Phantasms alive in PvP/WvW scenarios. In PvE it has it’s use because bosses can be controlled to be stationary and they’ll be able to apply their full skill. In PvP/WvW it doesn’t really do anything other than being Shatter fodder. It doesn’t do anything. People will just walk away from the poor guy in duels. In PvP/WvW it gets easily destroyed lol.

Comparing it to Shield, Shield has a double block that’s invaluable. It also summons 2 Phantasms when you time it right! And these Phantasms aren’t useless either as they provide Alacrity and Slow opponents hit. They do decent damage instantly too!

Then we also have Tides of Time. It’s a god-tier skill. Double stun, doesn’t have a target limit, provides 1.5 secs of Quickness to everyone that passes through it. Sure it has a long ass cooldown but it’s all worth it for it’s power. It also destroys Projectiles?! What?

Refia Montes.3205:

Godtier? So let’s see…. Focus has Temporal Curtain which grants swiftness and cripple to anyone who passes through it, pretty weak condition and boons. Then you can shatter it for to pull which is pretty strong if people don’t have Stability yeah it would be pretty effective to combo it with AoE bombs. (lol only bad zergs have no stability). Yeah Temporal Curtain is a pretty good skill.

Then we have Phantasmal Warden. We all know how kittenty illusions are in WvW and obviously Warden is one of the weakest Phantasms alive in PvP/WvW scenarios. In PvE it has it’s use because bosses can be controlled to be stationary and they’ll be able to apply their full skill. In PvP/WvW it doesn’t really do anything other than being Shatter fodder. It doesn’t do anything. People will just walk away from the poor guy in duels. In PvP/WvW it gets easily destroyed lol.

Comparing it to Shield, Shield has a double block that’s invaluable. It also summons 2 Phantasms when you time it right! And these Phantasms aren’t useless either as they provide Alacrity and Slow opponents hit. They do decent damage instantly too!

Then we also have Tides of Time. It’s a god-tier skill. Double stun, doesn’t have a target limit, provides 1.5 secs of Quickness to everyone that passes through it. Sure it has a long ass cooldown but it’s all worth it for it’s power. It also destroys Projectiles?! What?

Ya I do like shield. I end up using focus and shield cause both are so good.

Not everyone is aware but iwarden casts an axe that immobilizes now. Iwarden is probably best used on backliners and downed players. I generally do just pop it and pray though. Maybe I could focus (harhar bad joke) on utilizing iwarden more strategically for part 2. I’ve been experimenting with the whirling cleanse thing. It doesn’t seem too reliable at, will have to learn how to control.

Justine.6351:

Instead of poking at my bad gameplay as the reason focus is bad, why not challenge yourself and make the attempt to disprove beyond a shadow of a doubt that focus might actually be more in depth than “ROFL I pull people off walls”. And maybe actually watch the vid before deciding none of it is worth watching because you didn’t like 3min of it. “Hey I didn’t watch the vid, here’s my opinion on why you suck and vid suck, thumbs down gg”.

k, watched the video
I wrote my interpretation of the first part of the video because your last message obviously implied that I didn’t know anything about focus or focus play. It was not as you said because I was using your gameplay as the reason focus was bad. I never said focus was only good for pulling people off walls. I also even told you that it was good for utility, just not for combat. I even explained to you, based on what I saw, how you could get better use out of focus. So, why would you say I only think its only good for pulling people off walls? However, besides the point, people are mainly disagreeing with you because your post and video makes it sound like its an undiscovered God tier weapon when it has its limits and could easily be argued not to be the best OH weapon for pvp/wvw. All that you showed in the video has been known for a looong, long time and its still not currently the most used weapon in pvp/wvw. Do you honestly think this is a fluke? If your video was just titled something like ‘WvW Focus Utility’, no one would be arguing with you at all, including me. The video created is actually very good for showing new players how focus can be used. The video just shouldn’t be used the argue focus is the best weapon. I also apologize for being a bit harsh with you.

p.s. This whole page is also probably somewhat of an old developed reflex reaction as mesmers are usually used to/expecting people to say they are op/broken and think stuff should be nerfed. We just don’t like that kind of attention drawn because many times when people have pointed out how strong something was, it has got nerfed, even when it probably wasn’t as strong as what most people thought.

Justine.6351:

Refia Montes.3205:

Godtier? So let’s see…. Focus has Temporal Curtain which grants swiftness and cripple to anyone who passes through it, pretty weak condition and boons. Then you can shatter it for to pull which is pretty strong if people don’t have Stability yeah it would be pretty effective to combo it with AoE bombs. (lol only bad zergs have no stability). Yeah Temporal Curtain is a pretty good skill.

Then we have Phantasmal Warden. We all know how kittenty illusions are in WvW and obviously Warden is one of the weakest Phantasms alive in PvP/WvW scenarios. In PvE it has it’s use because bosses can be controlled to be stationary and they’ll be able to apply their full skill. In PvP/WvW it doesn’t really do anything other than being Shatter fodder. It doesn’t do anything. People will just walk away from the poor guy in duels. In PvP/WvW it gets easily destroyed lol.

Comparing it to Shield, Shield has a double block that’s invaluable. It also summons 2 Phantasms when you time it right! And these Phantasms aren’t useless either as they provide Alacrity and Slow opponents hit. They do decent damage instantly too!

Then we also have Tides of Time. It’s a god-tier skill. Double stun, doesn’t have a target limit, provides 1.5 secs of Quickness to everyone that passes through it. Sure it has a long ass cooldown but it’s all worth it for it’s power. It also destroys Projectiles?! What?

Ya I do like shield. I end up using focus and shield cause both are so good.

Not everyone is aware but iwarden casts an axe that immobilizes now. Iwarden is probably best used on backliners and downed players. I generally do just pop it and pray though. Maybe I could focus (harhar bad joke) on utilizing iwarden more strategically for part 2. I’ve been experimenting with the whirling cleanse thing. It doesn’t seem too reliable at, will have to learn how to control.

I’ve been running Focus in PvP a lot myself, that axe has a 1200 range, and the projectile itself is borderline impossible to see, so unless they see you lifting up the focus to throw the axe they probably are gonna get hit by the axe and be rooted for 2s and are sitting ducks for you to set up.

Pair that with Sig of Midnight and you can guarantee a nice little immob chain.

Durzlla.6295:

Justine.6351:

Refia Montes.3205:

Godtier? So let’s see…. Focus has Temporal Curtain which grants swiftness and cripple to anyone who passes through it, pretty weak condition and boons. Then you can shatter it for to pull which is pretty strong if people don’t have Stability yeah it would be pretty effective to combo it with AoE bombs. (lol only bad zergs have no stability). Yeah Temporal Curtain is a pretty good skill.

Then we have Phantasmal Warden. We all know how kittenty illusions are in WvW and obviously Warden is one of the weakest Phantasms alive in PvP/WvW scenarios. In PvE it has it’s use because bosses can be controlled to be stationary and they’ll be able to apply their full skill. In PvP/WvW it doesn’t really do anything other than being Shatter fodder. It doesn’t do anything. People will just walk away from the poor guy in duels. In PvP/WvW it gets easily destroyed lol.

Comparing it to Shield, Shield has a double block that’s invaluable. It also summons 2 Phantasms when you time it right! And these Phantasms aren’t useless either as they provide Alacrity and Slow opponents hit. They do decent damage instantly too!

Then we also have Tides of Time. It’s a god-tier skill. Double stun, doesn’t have a target limit, provides 1.5 secs of Quickness to everyone that passes through it. Sure it has a long ass cooldown but it’s all worth it for it’s power. It also destroys Projectiles?! What?

Ya I do like shield. I end up using focus and shield cause both are so good.

Not everyone is aware but iwarden casts an axe that immobilizes now. Iwarden is probably best used on backliners and downed players. I generally do just pop it and pray though. Maybe I could focus (harhar bad joke) on utilizing iwarden more strategically for part 2. I’ve been experimenting with the whirling cleanse thing. It doesn’t seem too reliable at, will have to learn how to control.

I’ve been running Focus in PvP a lot myself, that axe has a 1200 range, and the projectile itself is borderline impossible to see, so unless they see you lifting up the focus to throw the axe they probably are gonna get hit by the axe and be rooted for 2s and are sitting ducks for you to set up.

Pair that with Sig of Midnight and you can guarantee a nice little immob chain.

The axe really does have a good projectile. I’m not sure if just fast or has some tracking. If you Condi mesmer, try to get chaos storm + iwarden and see how well it stack confusion maybe idk.

Well anything is god teir when you’re against the kind of trash I’ve seen from NA not just in your videos Justine but also on Glads stream. Zerglings in NA don’t dodge, use skills, in fact I’m pretty sure we can say don’t use brain.

Come EU and try it, you might catch the odd person out with it but on the whole focus isn’t amazing, staff and offhand shield are much better in almost every way.

Focus is certainly not as bad or useless as many make it out to be.

Godtier though? Absolutely not.

Nothing new in your video and the skill of .ost of those opppnents was improvement worthy. Maybe it’s NA versus EU, maybe just some unlicky matches.

If there is any godtier offhand for mesmer at the moment, it’s got to be shield.

Durzlla.6295:

Justine.6351:

Refia Montes.3205:

Godtier? So let’s see…. Focus has Temporal Curtain which grants swiftness and cripple to anyone who passes through it, pretty weak condition and boons. Then you can shatter it for to pull which is pretty strong if people don’t have Stability yeah it would be pretty effective to combo it with AoE bombs. (lol only bad zergs have no stability). Yeah Temporal Curtain is a pretty good skill.

Then we have Phantasmal Warden. We all know how kittenty illusions are in WvW and obviously Warden is one of the weakest Phantasms alive in PvP/WvW scenarios. In PvE it has it’s use because bosses can be controlled to be stationary and they’ll be able to apply their full skill. In PvP/WvW it doesn’t really do anything other than being Shatter fodder. It doesn’t do anything. People will just walk away from the poor guy in duels. In PvP/WvW it gets easily destroyed lol.

Comparing it to Shield, Shield has a double block that’s invaluable. It also summons 2 Phantasms when you time it right! And these Phantasms aren’t useless either as they provide Alacrity and Slow opponents hit. They do decent damage instantly too!

Then we also have Tides of Time. It’s a god-tier skill. Double stun, doesn’t have a target limit, provides 1.5 secs of Quickness to everyone that passes through it. Sure it has a long ass cooldown but it’s all worth it for it’s power. It also destroys Projectiles?! What?

Ya I do like shield. I end up using focus and shield cause both are so good.

Not everyone is aware but iwarden casts an axe that immobilizes now. Iwarden is probably best used on backliners and downed players. I generally do just pop it and pray though. Maybe I could focus (harhar bad joke) on utilizing iwarden more strategically for part 2. I’ve been experimenting with the whirling cleanse thing. It doesn’t seem too reliable at, will have to learn how to control.

I’ve been running Focus in PvP a lot myself, that axe has a 1200 range, and the projectile itself is borderline impossible to see, so unless they see you lifting up the focus to throw the axe they probably are gonna get hit by the axe and be rooted for 2s and are sitting ducks for you to set up.

Pair that with Sig of Midnight and you can guarantee a nice little immob chain.

Most of the time I’ve used it that immob is either immediately actively or passively cleansed, or it falls off too fast for iWarden or an additional weapon skill to stack some damage, so unless it’s followed up with quick burst (iWarden becomes shatter fodder only saved by Chronophantasma) it’s effect is negligible.

I get the devs reasoning for putting the immob on there and although I like the idea personally don’t find it that useful or efficient.

I suppose in the confusion of a team fight on point the immob could catch people off guard enough for your team to focus them down (used to have similar fun with Chaotic Interruption and focus pull – people didn’t expect the immob there and got caught out. Ah that was fun).

Curunen.8729:

Durzlla.6295:

Justine.6351:

Refia Montes.3205:

Godtier? So let’s see…. Focus has Temporal Curtain which grants swiftness and cripple to anyone who passes through it, pretty weak condition and boons. Then you can shatter it for to pull which is pretty strong if people don’t have Stability yeah it would be pretty effective to combo it with AoE bombs. (lol only bad zergs have no stability). Yeah Temporal Curtain is a pretty good skill.

Then we have Phantasmal Warden. We all know how kittenty illusions are in WvW and obviously Warden is one of the weakest Phantasms alive in PvP/WvW scenarios. In PvE it has it’s use because bosses can be controlled to be stationary and they’ll be able to apply their full skill. In PvP/WvW it doesn’t really do anything other than being Shatter fodder. It doesn’t do anything. People will just walk away from the poor guy in duels. In PvP/WvW it gets easily destroyed lol.

Comparing it to Shield, Shield has a double block that’s invaluable. It also summons 2 Phantasms when you time it right! And these Phantasms aren’t useless either as they provide Alacrity and Slow opponents hit. They do decent damage instantly too!

Then we also have Tides of Time. It’s a god-tier skill. Double stun, doesn’t have a target limit, provides 1.5 secs of Quickness to everyone that passes through it. Sure it has a long ass cooldown but it’s all worth it for it’s power. It also destroys Projectiles?! What?

Ya I do like shield. I end up using focus and shield cause both are so good.

Not everyone is aware but iwarden casts an axe that immobilizes now. Iwarden is probably best used on backliners and downed players. I generally do just pop it and pray though. Maybe I could focus (harhar bad joke) on utilizing iwarden more strategically for part 2. I’ve been experimenting with the whirling cleanse thing. It doesn’t seem too reliable at, will have to learn how to control.

I’ve been running Focus in PvP a lot myself, that axe has a 1200 range, and the projectile itself is borderline impossible to see, so unless they see you lifting up the focus to throw the axe they probably are gonna get hit by the axe and be rooted for 2s and are sitting ducks for you to set up.

Pair that with Sig of Midnight and you can guarantee a nice little immob chain.

Most of the time I’ve used it that immob is either immediately actively or passively cleansed, or it falls off too fast for iWarden or an additional weapon skill to stack some damage, so unless it’s followed up with quick burst (iWarden becomes shatter fodder only saved by Chronophantasma) it’s effect is negligible.

I get the devs reasoning for putting the immob on there and although I like the idea personally don’t find it that useful or efficient.

I suppose in the confusion of a team fight on point the immob could catch people off guard enough for your team to focus them down (used to have similar fun with Chaotic Interruption and focus pull – people didn’t expect the immob there and got caught out. Ah that was fun).

I normally Mantra of Distraction the interrupt and put it on a 15s Cd (power block) to make sure I can abuse it, I’ve also noticed a lot of classes use their heal as a condi cleanse so it can also be a nail in the coffin if they try that nonsense.

I will say though focus is not nearly as good as dueling as it is in team fights, cause the “random” immob seems to get a ton of people killed, and even if the immob missed the wardens and curtains reflect add a lot of confusion. Especially the curtain, almost no one seems to realize that thing reflects bullets (traited) and I’ve had so many people CC themselves on it leaving them vulnerable to the pull

Mastering focus is one of the signs of a great mesmer. It’s an incredible weapon, especially in PvE.

mortrialus.3062:

Mastering focus is one of the signs of a great mesmer. It’s an incredible weapon, especially in PvE.

It’s not exactly a complex weapon to use in PvE now that the pull is a simple central point pull. Press 4 near some mobs, press it again. Press 5. Congrats, you’ve mastered pve focus.

Fay.2357:

mortrialus.3062:

Mastering focus is one of the signs of a great mesmer. It’s an incredible weapon, especially in PvE.

It’s not exactly a complex weapon to use in PvE now that the pull is a simple central point pull. Press 4 near some mobs, press it again. Press 5. Congrats, you’ve mastered pve focus.

Bro, that’s like. 3 button presses.

Very complex.