Guild Wars 2

I’m a pretty casual player, so I haven’t read up too much on builds and it hasn’t really mattered for me either. I only recently read some guides on this forum and some of them helped, but others made me feel even more hopeless.

I played Mesmer in the original Guild Wars, and… honestly, I wasn’t that fond of it. I mostly played it because I invested a lot of time in the character before I accepted that it just wasn’t for me, and I wasn’t about to replay so much of that game (not that I hated it, but for someone like me it took a lot of time and effort without a ton of compensation). It took me pretty much my entire career in that game to finally stumble on a build that I liked. It was a combination of interrupts and other punishing moves.

On a quick note, I feel like I’m a fairly decent player once I get into things, but I’m really bad at the whole “deckbuilding” thing, no matter what I’m playing. I can make great use of the connections if they’ve been pointed out to me, but I have a hard time noticing them on my own.

So, anyway, my career in Guild Wars 2 started off pretty rocky. I knew to expect a lot of differences, and was looking forward to most of them. But I felt pretty literally useless as Mesmer for a long time. Eventually, I settled on using the Staff because it was the easiest for me to wrap my head around while I tried to get everything figured out.

I actually figured out a fairly decent build all on my own for it. It was split between keeping the Staff Phantasms up while trying to throw up as many Conditions as I could. I’ve used that build until this patch.

I’ve actually been meaning to drop it for a long time, but I just can’t figure out what else to do. My problem with that build is twofold. Firstly, it has some major weaknesses. If I can’t keep my Phantasms alive, or if I’m attacking an object, I’m pretty worthless. The second problem being that it’s just so passive.

One thing I’ve tried on and off that I decided to try to go all out on after this patch is a Shatter/Confusion(now /Torment) build. Right now, it feels pretty crazy in theory, and I’m seeing other threads about similar builds, but in practice it hasn’t felt that useful. I really have no idea what I’m doing wrong, but even if I stack up a ton of Confusion and Torment, my opponents maybe take a respectable initial burst, but then they kinda just laugh, heal it back, and destroy me as I desperately try to set up another wave.

I think I still may be onto something though. I think I do enjoy it more than the Staff/Phantasm/Condition build. It feels more active, and being able to throw around Confusion makes me feel pretty powerful, but I’m still not sure exactly what to do with it.

So, onto some questions. I don’t want to get into my specific build numbers or gear at the moment because it’s very much in flux right now. Also, keep in mind, while I’d prefer a more active build, my reflexes and improvisation aren’t the best. There’s a reason I tend to run with as many Signets as I can justify.

1) Right now I’m using Mirror Image + Decoy to start off a fight with a full Shatter wave. Everything else feels too slow. Is there something I’m missing?

2) I keep hearing people recommend Deceptive Evasion. I admit, it looks pretty neat, but with only two dodges exhausting your Endurance, I feel like I’m either going to not have the Clones when I want them, or not have a dodge when I need it. Also, there’s not a lot else that looks appealing to me in that Trait line, passives, minor, or major.

3) I put my Sword away for a long time because it just felt really awkward to me. I pulled it out for the first time in awhile today and was wondering why because I really like the feel of the autoattack, but then I ran into why: Illusionary Leap. Everyone seems to love this ability, but it drives me nuts. Is there any indication when I’m in range? I feel like 90% of the times I use this ability it fizzles due to range, and then it goes on full cooldown.

4) Right now I’m focused in Illusions for all the Illusion stuff, and Inspiration for the Scepter stuff. Should I worry too much about passives and minor traits? I like some major traits in Inspiration, but every single minor one is worthless to me in this build. On the other hand, Domination doesn’t have a lot of major traits I want, but it does Condition Duration, which seems like it’d come in handy with Confusion and Torment.

1) What you’re missing is Deceptive Evasion

2) This trait is paramount to any shatter build. Without it, your clone generation just won’ be fast enough. I understand your hesitation, using the most powerful defensive ability in the game (dodge) to generate a clone you’re going to soon sacrifice. But it’s necessary. In conjunction with Critical Infusion, the adept minor trait in the same line, you should have high endurance regen.

3) Sword is amazing. It’s got that wonderful synergy with iLeap>swap>Blurred Frenzy. As for an indicator, yes, every targeted skill has one. You’ll notice a little red line on every one of your skills that disappears when you’re in range of your target. Admittedly, iLeap’s range isn’t far, but you’ll get used to it.

4) Don’t know what to say here. You’ll need to choose the traits that support your playstyle and the focus of your build. The Illusion line also reduces the cooldown of your shatters, so that’s incredibly important. Mental Torment in Dom makes your F1 hit harder. If you find that you’re having trouble with conditions, trait for cleanse on torch or signet. If you’re having trouble with health, trait for regen on phantasms. Take traits for the traits, not the stats in the line. You can make up for that with gear.

Seras.5702:

Take traits for the traits, not the stats in the line. You can make up for that with gear.

^This, this above any other suggestion as it is almost kittenedly important for mesmers above any other class.

Seras.5702:

As for an indicator, yes, every targeted skill has one. You’ll notice a little red line on every one of your skills that disappears when you’re in range of your target. Admittedly, iLeap’s range isn’t far, but you’ll get used to it.

Oh, wow, now I feel like an idiot. You know, I think I might have known about that before, but I completely missed that the other day, and I was even looking on the abilities for some kind of indicator. >_<

Take traits for the traits, not the stats in the line. You can make up for that with gear.

I remember someone saying something like this in the past, but I wanted to hear it again because… some of those stats sound so useful. ;P

Thanks for all of the feedback. I’m going to experiment with a few of these things.