Guild Wars 2

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQJARWlwzaqnVzoGa9ICqHgX29dkU0apWJF42FC;TsAg0CnoQygkAJLSOkkIt+YAxsCA

Thoughts?

More or less identical to what I use. Works great.

What’s the opening sequence like with this build? Are you starting out in staff getting all your clones/phantasm up for chaos armor then shattering in GS and leaving iZerker up to chase if they’re not dead?

A few things:

First off GS is great in a shatter build. Second- staff is not.

For certain situations sword/pistol and staff can be a great set up— but personally now that I have worked away from staff (was not easy at all) I use sword/pistol GS 100% of the time.

With a shatter build you are left without a lot of defense. Much of your survivability comes from avoiding damage rather than absorbing it. In parallel to this, in order to deal damage consistently excluding a few situations your target has to be standing still. Illusionary leap/blurred frenzy is a devastating combination for precisely that reason. I could never imagine sacrificing that for anything else in my shatter build.

Your GS can offer really good setup for your next shatter/additional CC, and sustained DPS in between your bursts with your sword/pistol combination.

The amount of CC you have between sword/pistol and GS is absolutely amazing.

When it comes to staff— you are essentially playing defensive when you have your staff out. Putting pressure is essentially non-existent. Yes the #2 is amazing, and chaos armor combos and chaos storm are all awesome for keeping you alive— but this goes back to the absorbing damage rather than avoiding it. Without a lot of toughness switching to staff will just result in your opponent having the ability to do whatever they want without you applying any real pressure. Sure waiting for your shatters to be up is great— but wouldn’t you rather keep the pressure up between shatters rather then just becoming a lame duck?

For the most part you get the general trait set up— but a few notes:

Domination:
If you’re running a shatter build one of its main strengths is that you strip boons while you’re doing damage. Sacrificing shattered concentration for greatsword training is not a good idea.

Dueling:
Phantams having fury is a style choice which is fine. Personally since I do run sword/pistol I use the 20% shorter CD since blurred frenzy every 8 seconds instead of every 10 can save your life vs really bursty specs.

Illusions:
Instead of an extra bounce I have cry of frustration grants retaliation. You can get a really hefty stack of retal up in addition to slapping a decent sized stack of confusion on your opponent. He is taking damage from using abilities and is also taking damage from dealing damage to you. A well timed cry of frustration can play a pivotal role in taking someone down.

This is almost identical to what I use.

@Nero I disagree with your stance on staff and shattering. While I would agree that sword+pistol will grant you greater burst, the staff makes up for that in survivability and utility. It really just depends on your play style. The staff is capable of creating illusions just as quickly (slightly longer CD on the phantasm, but you should be swapping before this happens). The staff for me is more of a mid-close range weapon. With the auto-traited for the extra bounce and your clones tossing out winds of chaos between shatters, you’re stacking a significant amount of vulnerability and condition damage with burning and bleeding. The added utility from chaos storm and chaos armor mitigates damage while weakening your foe. I also feel that staff gives more utility to your team in group fights.

So while I respect the sheer power of sword / pistol, I still prefer staff to my personal play style.

How is your survivability in dungeons with this build? Since you have not specced in toughness, vitality or healing.

Not sure if you’re asking the OP or responding to mine, but for me my gear makes up for some toughness and vitality.

Nero —

I ran shatter build with S/P and found the build to be way too squishy (likely due to my lack of experience with S/P). Maybe I’m not used to using frenzy defensively. Also, leap seems to miss A LOT – maybe I don’t understand the mechanic that well given I haven’t really played with S/P before. Also, condi dmg completely owns this build. Is that typically a hard counter for shatter? As soon as I see someone trying to stack DOTs, should I GTFO? Condi damage ranger and blossom spamming thief (ranger more so than thief) completely shut me down.

General question: With your build, Do you open in S/P or do you typically open in GS? I imagine a burst/sustained damage goes something like open in GS, mirror, berserker, shatter, S/P, duelist, magic bullet, leap, frenzy, shatter?

Dunno about the original poster, but i normally attack like:

iBerserk
Mirror Blade (creates clone)
dodge (to create clone)
Mind wrack

followed by:

Mirror Images
Dodge
CoF

then pop a Duelist and jump in with illusionary leap and blurred frenzy, roll again and smack em with a last Mind wrack if they for some reason are still alive.

All this can be done very quicky, and you take little damage with you always being on the move. obviously I change the combination of skills depending on the situation, and there are loads of other just as effective ways to do it… just thought ide share my way.

Nero is talking about this build below which is one of -if not THE- strongest Mesmer PvP build in the game today and some might argue pound for pound the undisputed PvP build of GW2:

http://www.gw2build.com/builds/simulator.php#1.8.7.3.0.20.31.36.0.37.180.198.201.196.204.2.2.24.526.532.0.544.550.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.591.587.596.20.20.0.0.30

Thing is you really need to be on top of your game to play it!

Though I should add Nero was talking about GS+S/P, the above is S/P+Staff. Staff or GS is completely up to you his point is the power of S/P which he is 100% right on.

Cempa.3645:

Nero is talking about this build below which is one of -if not THE- strongest Mesmer PvP build in the game today and some might argue pound for pound the undisputed PvP build of GW2:

http://www.gw2build.com/builds/simulator.php#1.8.7.3.0.20.31.36.0.37.180.198.201.196.204.2.2.24.526.532.0.544.550.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.591.587.596.20.20.0.0.30

Thing is you really need to be on top of your game to play it!

Though I should add Nero was talking about GS+S/P, the above is S/P+Staff. Staff or GS is completely up to you his point is the power of S/P which he is 100% right on.

thats a really powerful, but highly specific build for a shatter build for spvp. but its sub-optimal for wvw or pve. for instance, theres absolutely no reason to go that far into illusions trait line.

i’d say the basic traits you need for GS shatter build are (edit: for anything not spvp)
http://www.gw2build.com/builds/simulator.php#1.8.12.3.0.18.5.16.0.16.180.191.201.196.204.2.2.6.526.535.528.542.550.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.586.0.0.30.20.0.0.10

with 10 points left over to put in whatever you want.

Its amazing how Mesmer can ignore Toughness completely, just love that mechanic. In PvE as a player if you are ‘aware’ of what is going on, Toughness is not a big deal and in PvP class mechanics make it so you really don’t gain much from stacking it unless you want to play Staff support so you need to be up close and personal all the time.

As for sPvP I play GS main with focus on Regen+Protection from Phantasms and then use S/P from the root+flurry+pistol phanta and right back ts GS.

WvW I tend to not roam alone, instead focus on objectives so its GS and iBerserk in the middle of zergs!

Though I will add a pure toughness+vitality Staff/S+S Mesmer can be a royal pain.

I well aware of the 20-20-0-0-30 build even if I personaly prefere 10-30-0-0-30. S/P Is the mian wep setup for shatter, the 2nd wep is there to fill a role, eather dmg (GS) or survival (staff) Gs in shatter build, i know some ppl use "Nero for once) but I personaly feel staff is stronger as you can be more in the face. Tbh shatter build is about be close juke in and do dmg in the face and juke out. Gs dont offer that and its less dmg on short range + weakness vs mele make is subbpar compared to staff (in my oppinion, feel free to have own ideas here)

If anyone feel squishy and JUST CANT GET IT TO WORK with 10-30-0-0-30 alt 20-20-0-0-30 I say

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAsaWlwzaqnVzoGa9IiJF9Gyh6B4hdfXJF82FC;TsAg0CnoqxUjoGbNuak1s+YAx0CA

is a strong build. It dont kill as fast but you stay alive longer and ppl go down, tryed duel hours ans alot of pvp with it and even if I prefere more dmg focused build I find this strong.

For roaming alone its possible, Just posted a solo wvwvw movie about shatter gameplay in wvwvw solo. Its in a thread on this forum and it realy show how strong staff is in wvwvw.

Nero.8623:

A few things:

First off GS is great in a shatter build. Second- staff is not.

For certain situations sword/pistol and staff can be a great set up— but personally now that I have worked away from staff (was not easy at all) I use sword/pistol GS 100% of the time.

With a shatter build you are left without a lot of defense. Much of your survivability comes from avoiding damage rather than absorbing it. In parallel to this, in order to deal damage consistently excluding a few situations your target has to be standing still. Illusionary leap/blurred frenzy is a devastating combination for precisely that reason. I could never imagine sacrificing that for anything else in my shatter build.

Your GS can offer really good setup for your next shatter/additional CC, and sustained DPS in between your bursts with your sword/pistol combination.

The amount of CC you have between sword/pistol and GS is absolutely amazing.

When it comes to staff— you are essentially playing defensive when you have your staff out. Putting pressure is essentially non-existent. Yes the #2 is amazing, and chaos armor combos and chaos storm are all awesome for keeping you alive— but this goes back to the absorbing damage rather than avoiding it. Without a lot of toughness switching to staff will just result in your opponent having the ability to do whatever they want without you applying any real pressure. Sure waiting for your shatters to be up is great— but wouldn’t you rather keep the pressure up between shatters rather then just becoming a lame duck?

For the most part you get the general trait set up— but a few notes:

Domination:
If you’re running a shatter build one of its main strengths is that you strip boons while you’re doing damage. Sacrificing shattered concentration for greatsword training is not a good idea.

Dueling:
Phantams having fury is a style choice which is fine. Personally since I do run sword/pistol I use the 20% shorter CD since blurred frenzy every 8 seconds instead of every 10 can save your life vs really bursty specs.

Illusions:
Instead of an extra bounce I have cry of frustration grants retaliation. You can get a really hefty stack of retal up in addition to slapping a decent sized stack of confusion on your opponent. He is taking damage from using abilities and is also taking damage from dealing damage to you. A well timed cry of frustration can play a pivotal role in taking someone down.

Can you run a GS focused -as in main weapon- build just as effectively? We know the Shatter one, what are the others?