I run tPvP shatter build everywhere form AC to Arah. mini dungeons and Dynamic events to WvW and ofc in sPvP
(Ofc changing a few traits around)
I make it my own personal game to do my dailies and cof runs with a different off hand and occasionally swapping between GS and Staff for my off set from my MH sword set.
(Only thing I’m not really using right now is scepter)
To day it was torch day and as fun as it is I am curious on the general opinion of the torch. Not a lot of talk goes on about it, and I understand the opinion of the phantasm being kind of sucky but is anyone absolutely hating it or loving it? I’m curious as to reasons why for your opinions. Please share them with me ^^
“I control time and space; you can’t break free.~” “Maybe I was the illusion all along!”
Phantasm = Shatter fodder.
4skill = Defensive skill from the heavens.
If you’re using the 4skill for a shatter (say, in combination with Staff5), it’s a bit hectic. You have to time it perfectly as you have less than a second of time for the window to be used correctly. If you’re mixing it with a different field, say from your utilities, it’s a lot easier (especially with Feedback’s insta-cast Mantra style).
Overall, I use it in WvW when I’m serious and am not sure of my own strengths. It helps me get in and out of fights (dodging through a Zerg to get to that down person for a finish, or simply getting away). The blast finish itself is no joke either, the damage from that can be combo’ed with a shatter to allow large amounts of damage to pop up out of nowhere so the victim is unable to react/roll. In PvE, I tried using it as a support Mesmer, and it worked, but I never really thought of using it in conjunction with my utility-fields, which is why I stopped being a “true-support” Mesmer and instead focused my efforts on being a damage-support Mesmer. If used properly, the Torch is no joke of a weapon, but it takes a high amount of cooldown-awareness and timing to properly utilize (and the timing is cooldowns on weapons you are not equipped to at that time).
I find torch to be weak for node defense… I like the invisiblity but the damage being backloaded instead of frontloaded is dumb.. having 2 invis is very strong for survival.
Phantasm is weak compared to duelist.. and Ranged stun +daze on more targets = ultra strong.
Maybe it needs to be trait’d to work better, condition cleanse sounds pretty strong
just no room in my build for it.
Trash for any builds you can make on mesmer. No able to roll while in Prestige is a major wtf, Prestige take five centuries to recharge when its far from powerful (it should stun/deal higher damage and apply poison like the enemies on maw’s level in fotm), skill 5 deals joke damage, 3stacks of confusion isn’t enough (should be 5 for 3sec) and why the **** does this phantasm takes sooooooooooooo long to CD? its not even powerful, wtf….
Fact: every Thief tells you to “l2p” when the subject is to nerf stealth.
Generalities are for the narrow minded though. It’s awesome but like with everything, you have to work it into a build. I use a sceptre/torch “Mass Confusion” C/D shatter build. The torch allows me 16 stack confusion openers on a single target (with subsequent aoe confusion stacks) with aditional. constant, rolling stacks of confusion, traited aoe confusion on aoe blind, the stealth, followed by the aoe fire blast (finisher too).
Just one persons opinion though. To contrast the general masses you’ll hear “Naph! Canna maky work. Torch bro-kin! Naph!”
Oh, and the other day I made a phantasm confusion bunker build thing that utilised the iMage (try getting 3 iMages up against a champ, or some other target. It’s a beautiful sight to behold )
Torch phantasm really needs to have a shorter cool down. Torch 4 is beyond amazing for support, and glamor/confusion builds. The blast finishers available through it are incredible. The torch 4 skill being channeled…. Meh. Don’t like that to much but I’ll take it as is before its fixed into a broken state. Just my opinion on the 4 ability, its not meant as an escape stealth at all.
the torch suffered a nerf because in a game description from a while back the prestige made you INVULNERABLE while you were channeling it. That was apparently OP so it had to be nerfed.
For the moment the Torch is my secondary weapon with the scepter, i just use the iwarlock for the +3 confusion stack and pop up +2 clones to shatter after that i pop up more clones and use prestige just for safekeeping. So yeah i like to use the torch, gonna try it with the sword since my build changed and using the sword as a finisher move.
I really enjoy the torch. Its a great escape when paired with Blink. AoE Blind for saving allies from stomps. The burning damage isn’t too bad for a condition build, and of course you can stealth-shatter (which really goes good with Mirror Images, especially if you’ve already summoned the Phantasm before you stealth’d. iMage> prestige> blink2opponent> mirror images > Own). If you use Distraction as your shatter for such a set-up, the iMage tends to be far enough away to daze ’em a second time
Torch also offers our only Blast finisher. AoE Chaos Armor rocks for groups.
I love the torch, it’s an amazing weapon if you use it correctly. My only complaint is that the phantasm with it is a little weak (For my specific build, Other builds rock with it). I think a lot of the hate comes from the fact that while most other weapons are extremely versatile , the torch HAS to be specced for if it’s going to work at all.
Also, You can most certainly roll in prestige, it helps immensely if your trying to kill off your illusions and confuse opponents.
Also, You can most certainly roll in prestige, it helps immensely if your trying to kill off your illusions and confuse opponents.
You can NOT dodge roll during The Prestige, the entire skill is a channel from blind-to-burn, if you do any non-instant action it will break the channel and give you the revealed debuff.
Also, You can most certainly roll in prestige, it helps immensely if your trying to kill off your illusions and confuse opponents.
You can NOT dodge roll during The Prestige, the entire skill is a channel from blind-to-burn, if you do any non-instant action it will break the channel and give you the revealed debuff.
There’s a brief window of forgiveness at the end. Try playing around in PvE.
The torch is highly underrated. I’ll echo what some others have said, iMage is mainly shatter fodder after its first attack, but does mesh in a build that makes use of confusion (and with retaliation can make attacking the Mesmer a real pain). The prestige is fantastic and has more uses than most credit it with. But what really makes the torch shine is when it’s traited for. Besides the obvious bonus of a short cool down stealth the trait basically gives you two condition cleansers on pretty short cool downs. As good as aether field and trickery are they remain our only two condition cleansing skills (not counting iDisenhanter for obvious reasons). And in a standard 20/20/0/0/30 shatter build picking up the torch trait makes sense and meshes well. I run trickery and decoy and mass invis, those combined with torch traited (and gs on swap) mean I have 3 low cd invis’s and 3 condition cleansers that also provide utility/DMG. Remember that after last patch prestige cleanses a condition on use not at the end, that cleanse+stealth+damage all in one is amazing.
I like to play with torch in a condi dmg spec once in a while in WvW, in combination with scepter #3 and the asura racial Pain Inverter. I find that most people melt themselves unless I do something wrong. I don’t have that much experience though.
I wasn’t a particularly big fan of the prestige until I realised you can blink whilst channeling it so, if timed correctly, you can land the burn attack as soon as you’ve blinked to your distant target and come out of stealth. For me, it completely changes the viability of that skill and gives me so much more control as to how I move and land the attack in battle. I equip mainhand sword and use prestige bombing with blurred frenzy to harass groups of players in WvW. I also utilise the blink with the prestige to set off blast finishers within AoEs cast at my enemies. I mostly target dark fields to pop area blindness or fire fields for further might stacking.
And yet we should be able to do some of that with rolling/dodging if it wasn’t channeled in the first place. I suppose I’m only bitter about it because actually in the first place (beta) the skill wasn’t channeled and torch was fine/balanced.
Still a great skill, but it was fine the way it was and not clunky. Now its still a great skill but clunky to use. Harder to use effectively w/o losing much overall power = not a good design decision. Easier/more intuitive to use for about the same amount of power = good design decision.
Yeah, during the beta you would start the channel and gain invisibility while blinding, but if you revealed your self by using offensive abilities the fire blast finisher still went off at the end of the channel.
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