Guild Wars 2

I’m primarily loiter (with intent) in WvW and for some time I’ve been meaning to post this.

WvW is really ZvZ. The beserker is getting increasingly pointless in this form of combat due to the share amount of ground AOE destroying them before they can hit a single target. I try normally to hit the flank or fringes on zergs but at least 80% of the time it will be destroyed or just stand there before it’s done any damage.

No other class in the game can have their attacks destroyed before they’ve done anything and it already does less AOE damage than most AOE’s from other classes (still misses 1 or 2 attacks more often than not) and quite often is still being out damaged by Spatial Surge. I can put up with it’s sub par damage as long as it does some damage after all its the main skill of the weapon.

What I’m proposing is to give beserker and other phantasms one to 1.5 seconds of invulnerability so it has a chance to get one attack round done after which it can be destroyed. To compensate those who say it will be abused in shattering, make it so it cannot be shattered either within this time frame.

It can still be evaded and seeming how slow it runs, should pose no problems getting rid of it before it’s next attack.

I’m not proposing this change to clones, just the beserker.

Just to remind you … “Berserker” is an armor prefix.

better say “iZerker” or “pZerker” to show that you’re actually talking about the phantasm and not the armor’s stats.

iZerker not iSoldier.

Well.. cant really say anything else but ‘’learn to place’‘. Yes, it does gets destroyed, but if you use it on backline targets you’ll most likely get the full dmg from it.
Also, phantasm specs aren’t supposed to be viable in large group fights. That’s where shatter plays a role.

BlackDevil.9268:

Also, phantasm specs aren’t supposed to be viable in large group fights. That’s where shatter plays a role.

Could you please tell us how to have clone / phantasm available to shatter in a zerg when a phantasm hardly survive enough to land a single shot ?
I am really interested.

Well with the 20-20-0-0-30 shatter build you can make yourself a ’’clone’’
You can dodge around the zerg, get 3 clones up, jump in and shatter. This is mostly useful for F4.
You can dodge and shatter right after. If you’re fast enough then 75% of the time the clone will shatter.
If you run with focus you can lay down 4, precast 5, use 4 again, iwarden spawns on enemy, you leap in and you got 2 clones doing shatter + yourself.

enough ways to think of.

Hi O.P.

I agree with you 100% and disagree with the poster above. He/She obviously has never ran frontline or he/she would understand that anything based on shatters/clones/phantasms/pets/minions is utterly and completely useless. There is a HUGE difference between going organized vs organized group and uselessly text/map chat plinking from the back.

Skirting around the zerg isnt an option unless you are backline or roaming. Any trait points invested into clone generation, shattering, clone dmg, clone health, or effects from shatters are a complete and utter waste. I have found only 2 things that semi-work for these situations.

1. Focus #5, when traited, you can pop it on opponents backline its reflect will tag all the targets trying to shoot through it and it still will hit within its melee range. It is subject to less server lag because it is immobile, so you can get it out where other clones/phantasms cant.

2. The ilock, you can pop it at long range and it kinda stands there doing a shot or 2 to its target before it or target dies and if traited will give you a nice heal which is quite important.

Rest of them, useless.

However, I disagree with you about an invulnreability idea because conversely, in PVE (many dungeons, for example Lupi phase 1) there are bosses where you need to immediately shatter. An invulnreability and preventing a shatter would be so detrimental that you would have to switch out of GS entirely. So while this might fix one aspect of the game using greatsword, it will break another.

Only thing I could do on my part is switch GS to staff, chaos storm field bouncing auto and ilock are far better for tagging and frontline then GS anyways. And Staff#2 is basically a free spammable stunbreaker irrelevant if generates a clone or not or that clone hits its target or gets shattered, cant go wrong with it.

So to sum it up, if you are running GS in frontline, you simply arent playing correctly anyways due to lack of your best stunbreaker, GS is at best roaming or PVE weapon. Perhaps it will change in the future as it would be really nice to have good ranged DPS weapon, but for now, just dont use it or stay kitten are the only 2 choices.

Tongku.5326:

Hi O.P.

I agree with you 100% and disagree with the poster above. He/She obviously has never ran frontline or he/she would understand that anything based on shatters/clones/phantasms/pets/minions is utterly and completely useless. There is a HUGE difference between going organized vs organized group and uselessly text/map chat plinking from the back.

Skirting around the zerg isnt an option unless you are backline or roaming. Any trait points invested into clone generation, shattering, clone dmg, clone health, or effects from shatters are a complete and utter waste. I have found only 2 things that semi-work for these situations.

1. Focus #5, when traited, you can pop it on opponents backline its reflect will tag all the targets trying to shoot through it and it still will hit within its melee range. It is subject to less server lag because it is immobile, so you can get it out where other clones/phantasms cant.

2. The ilock, you can pop it at long range and it kinda stands there doing a shot or 2 to its target before it or target dies and if traited will give you a nice heal which is quite important.

Rest of them, useless.

However, I disagree with you about an invulnreability idea because conversely, in PVE (many dungeons, for example Lupi phase 1) there are bosses where you need to immediately shatter. An invulnreability and preventing a shatter would be so detrimental that you would have to switch out of GS entirely. So while this might fix one aspect of the game using greatsword, it will break another.

Only thing I could do on my part is switch GS to staff, chaos storm field bouncing auto and ilock are far better for tagging and frontline then GS anyways. And Staff#2 is basically a free spammable stunbreaker irrelevant if generates a clone or not or that clone hits its target or gets shattered, cant go wrong with it.

So to sum it up, if you are running GS in frontline, you simply arent playing correctly anyways due to lack of your best stunbreaker, GS is at best roaming or PVE weapon. Perhaps it will change in the future as it would be really nice to have good ranged DPS weapon, but for now, just dont use it or stay kitten are the only 2 choices.

very much agree with u too. invulnerability is kinda op in a small group. i think anet has to rework our class in wvw as all our clones and phantasms arent viable in a zvz encounter. i know all of u will come now with but i use this and i use that….no i play my mes everyday and fight in zergs: here is my experience:

i have 4 armorsets:
pvt with melandru runes where i run a power based build….gs/sword/focus….barely able to tag, still die a lot…does feel a little awkward in a zerg

dire armor with melandru set and triforce build. staff/scepter/focus…. tagging is tough with this one, but u survive better…pretty much the veilbot build as u can run with the zerg

rabid armor with perplexity runes and glamour build. staff/scepter/focus. great for tagging, very squishy and no u cant kill kitten…but at least tag

rabid with tormenting sigil/runes glamour or triforce…. again pretty squishy, but tagging is good with the torment/confusion…but again u are only a tagger, not a killer

what we lack is being a threat in wvw. in spvp we are feared, as sometimes in a 1v1 the enem doesnt even know what hit them and they are dead. in wvw we are taggers, but mainly used for veil, timewarp, massinvis and portal….since the glamour and immortal mesmer build nerfs, we lack a lot of aoe dmg and the state of other classes puts us right down to the bottom in wvw.

most of the guilds run warrior/guardian/ necro trains with ele supporters, while they only require 1-2 mesers for veil and timewarp…. something has to change for wvw mesmers and no its not the mantras…

@BlackDevil

It’s not a placement issue as 9/10 it doesn’t matter whether you’re trying to hit their frontlines, fringes or backline the iZerker (and iSwordsman for those who use it) will easily be CC’d and / or destroyed before it does one iota of damage, especially when enemy zergs (JQ) easily exceed 40+ players. The only time its reliable is an attack from behind when the enemy zerg hasn’t seen you, or if a small group breaks off and for mopping up.

Yes, I know it works both ways. When I’m in the middle or on the fringes of my zerg, I don’t recall being hit by iZerker either so it must frustrate other GS mesmers and I do see a few of them. I just feel we’re getting the short end of the deal and are simply asking for it to be able to get one attack round in like other classes skills get and hey, it still can be evaded.

As for it doing full damage, that’s another issue. Whilst it’s better than their last effort, it does still miss quite often on one or more attacks or even just stands there, not cc’d, just on strike. However, that’s not the point of this post so I digress.

@Tongku.

ANET are able to differentiate whether the skill is being used in WvW or PvE so the invulnerability doesn’t need to be applied in PvE, pretty much like they did for confusion in sPvP before completely ruining it every where else later on. That would leave it same for dungeons

@selan

I agree. I’d shelve my mesmer if they made WvW ranks account bound in a heart beat. We’ve become glorified taxis for golems, others will chime in and say we’re in a great place, but I don’t see it. It’s not uncommon for me to be the only mesmer in the group and others will relog on to their mesmers to taxi golems only when they have to. Day by day, I’m seeing less and less of us and reckon we may be one of the least played classes now. See so many thieves, guardians, eles, warriors and necros these days.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my mesmer, but each “balance” to me just seems to make me think ANET has no real plan for us.

I’ve been running Gsword/Staff in a organized WvW guild and my iZerker always does atleast a spin through them. Sure it sometimes gets killed, but it will do more damage then any other phantasm ever will (considering its AoE). And I agree, I can’t see the potential of a shatter build, except the “recharge all shatters at 50% health trait” so you can F4 twice. But that would take too many trait points for my liking

For ranged play with Greatsword in WvW, izerker is the bomb and I, personally, do not care if it lasts – my CD for it is wonderful, up in no time.

It’s not a problem of the izerker or phantasms. It’s a problem of all pets. They don’t last enough even to attack.
I’ve pop up thousands of times my iWarden and most of the times I’ve never seen any number from it.

I prefer much more Chaos Storm. It’s more easy for me to tag people than with the GS

Zamiel.2130:

No other class in the game can have their attacks destroyed before they’ve done anything

Rangers, Necromancers, Engineers. Four out of 8 classes.

Even then, phantasm aren’t supposed to be good at zerg fights due their survivability.
Though, I really wonder what you imagine as backline, since I’ve never seen the enemy drop CC on their own backline lol.

There’s a few things I’d like to point out. Aside from IP, I’ve never understood how people use shatter verse a zerg. Clones simply don’t survive long enough. Clone-death builds are the sure-fire way to go here imo. Plus, IP requires you to be within the enemy zerg.

As for GS verse Staff, GS is, without a doubt, our best aoe option. Here are the skills:
GS 1: hits 3 targets via pierce immediately
GS 2: hits 4 targets for damage and vuln and produces a clone on site of impact!
GS 3: hits 5 targets for damage and boon rip from any angle!
GS 4: hits whoever (X amount) the heck is in his way and cripples
GS 5: hits X number of targets in front of you for damage and knockback

Staff 1: hits 2 targets for damage and a condition in a delayed manner
Staff 2: produces a clone
Staff 3: hits 1 per attack
Staff 4: can apply condition if hit
Staff 5: hits 5 targets and can continue hitting if opponents stay on field

I don’t deny that Chaos Storm is good. Traited you can dump it every 28 seconds. However, the CD is still very high and it’s the only spell for staff that can hit multiple targets with any certainty. You could argue that every GS spell has a good degree of certainty that it will hit.

If you’re looking to use damage fields in ZvZ you may as well use a necro.

Zamiel.2130:

@BlackDevil

@selan

I agree. I’d shelve my mesmer if they made WvW ranks account bound in a heart beat. We’ve become glorified taxis for golems, others will chime in and say we’re in a great place, but I don’t see it. It’s not uncommon for me to be the only mesmer in the group and others will relog on to their mesmers to taxi golems only when they have to. Day by day, I’m seeing less and less of us and reckon we may be one of the least played classes now. See so many thieves, guardians, eles, warriors and necros these days.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my mesmer, but each “balance” to me just seems to make me think ANET has no real plan for us.

exactly! anet keeps saying: we are happy with where the mesmers are at right now". and that one makes me just shake my head. i mean do they play mesmers in wvw zergfights? i dont think so! yeah in spvp we got more build variety than wvw and in spvp 1v1 we are doing alright, but a class should nerver be balanced arond a 1v1 performance!
the wvw mesmer is suffering because of the spvp mesmer. anet seems to not know what our classes role is…and yes we have lost our role in wvw…or better said our role ins utilitybot now and of course less people are playing a mesmer in wvw. i mean who want s to be a stupid veilbot anyways?

the problem is:

mesmer is a light armor class

light armor classes are usually good with aoe and defense as a light armor wants to stay ranged or in the middle line due to being squishy.

a light armor needs certain defenses vs medium and heavy armor to slow them down.

we are mainly duelists and a duelist is normally medium armor

in most games out there a mesmer class is light armor and is known for confusing and manipulating the enemy. we got clones to confuse, but they dont work in zergs, so we need something to compensate for that. the gw1 mesmer was a pai to fight as they would punish mindless players. and this is what we are lacking! we need aoes that hurts the enemy when they blindly run in it.
i mean people are aware of necro marks and wells, so they try to dodge out of it or through it as they know this red circle could hurt them. same needs to happen for the mesmer. if we has an aoe that workes like certain hexes in gw1 then the zerglings then the mesmer would be a threat again.the glamour build was very very strong because people like to just spam 11111111 in a zerg and ignoring that fact that confusion hurt, but for people that were aware of this glamour builds werent as effective. all u had to do was backing off and cleanse.

so yeah i would like to see more aoe for the mesmer and less ai stuff so wvw mesmer is getting popular again. there is not many mesmers in wvw for a reason, so anet please look into the wvw mesmer!

Carighan.6758:

Zamiel.2130:

No other class in the game can have their attacks destroyed before they’ve done anything

Rangers, Necromancers, Engineers. Four out of 8 classes.

rangers yes. their pet dies in like 2 seconds, so they are not in a good spot either.
necros have their marks and their autoattacks hurt a lot too, so they are fine… yes minions dont work that well in wvw, but they have 2 very effective builds: the condi and the power necro!
engis have grenades and all that

BlackDevil.9268:

Even then, phantasm aren’t supposed to be good at zerg fights due their survivability.
Though, I really wonder what you imagine as backline, since I’ve never seen the enemy drop CC on their own backline lol.

Zergs don’t fight front line to front line, one zerg will push well in to the other, often running right through them so by the time you can get to their back line you’re in fact targeting one big AOE blob.

Carighan.6758:

Zamiel.2130:

No other class in the game can have their attacks destroyed before they’ve done anything

Rangers, Necromancers, Engineers. Four out of 8 classes.

All three have pets, spirits or turrets that last more than a second giving them at least a chance, many times iBeserker never actually appears as if it’s destroyed before the server could draw it. Even the mesmer trait Persisting Images to grant Phantasms more health seems to have little affect in this situation.

iBeserker is the main attack of the GS, whereas Rangers, Necros and Engineers main attacks aren’t reliant on what they have or can spawn.

I feel you guys are looking at this the wrong way. It’s not so much that mesmer skills need to change (though if they brought back the glamour build, I would start playing again). It’s zerg vs zerg that needs to go. If they allowed scholar class AoEs to hit more than 5 opponents at once with reduced damage and/or effects, that could potentially disperse any zerg. Mesmers should be at the forefront of this tactic. While eles should do pure, raw damage and necros pass out conditions like they were cookies, we should be able to disrupt any unorganized blob so much that they’re not even sure what MMO they are playing.

@Crossplay

We use to be like that with the zergbuster confusion build. Yes, it was pretty much OP however ANET didn’t balance it, they destroyed it with a 50% reduction.

Zerg vs Zerg will never end, there’s no incentive for small groups to form up and go do things on their own.

What… I gotta draw a picture for you? ._.

Carighan.6758:

Zamiel.2130:

No other class in the game can have their attacks destroyed before they’ve done anything

Rangers, Necromancers, Engineers. Four out of 8 classes.

Necros and Engis can (and should!) completely opt out of AI builds. Mesmers and Rangers are really the only ones getting the short end of the stick here.

Crossplay.2067:

I feel you guys are looking at this the wrong way. It’s not so much that mesmer skills need to change (though if they brought back the glamour build, I would start playing again). It’s zerg vs zerg that needs to go. If they allowed scholar class AoEs to hit more than 5 opponents at once with reduced damage and/or effects, that could potentially disperse any zerg. Mesmers should be at the forefront of this tactic. While eles should do pure, raw damage and necros pass out conditions like they were cookies, we should be able to disrupt any unorganized blob so much that they’re not even sure what MMO they are playing.

This is not the correct way to view the situation. I just came from a 15 vs 30 where we dropped the bigger group in exactly 2 seconds. The tools are there for zerg busting to occur already. It’s just that mesmers weapon skills aren’t a part of it.

Do people not run glamour sceptor/ torch or focus + staff anymore? You can either trait for focus to reflect, or you can trait for sceptor to give you 200 extra condition damage. With full stacks, guard leech, and good gear, you can drop your glamour fields with up to 2400 condition damage, then switch to staff and kite/ chaos storm and such. The confusion ticks are still very high despite the confusion changes.

I’m currently running a stereotypical valk/zerker phantasm build for roaming, and it works nicely with WvW gear scaling. I’ll occasionally follow around our commander with it, too. The impact you can have with it isn’t very appealing, but other classes have it worse.

Shinoobi.1259:

Do people not run glamour sceptor/ torch or focus + staff anymore? You can either trait for focus to reflect, or you can trait for sceptor to give you 200 extra condition damage. With full stacks, guard leech, and good gear, you can drop your glamour fields with up to 2400 condition damage, then switch to staff and kite/ chaos storm and such. The confusion ticks are still very high despite the confusion changes.

If they reverted the Confusing Enchantments nerf then confusion glam builds would be slightly viable.

BlackDevil.9268:

Well.. cant really say anything else but ‘’learn to place’‘. Yes, it does gets destroyed, but if you use it on backline targets you’ll most likely get the full dmg from it.
Also, phantasm specs aren’t supposed to be viable in large group fights. That’s where shatter plays a role.

True. Mesmer can be a very good weapon in a good hand.
Shatter can be used in duel, small, large and zerg fights.
You can flank running enemies, “mix” backline fighters, be a false target in enemies front, stomp downed enemies, etc. Of course veil and TW are some good options in large fights.

I’ve had no problems using my shatter build in large zerg v zerg fights, it’s very easy to mistime though and you very much so need to be prepared.

I usually start by slamming myself down in the middle of the zerg when we attempt to split it open, putting a chaos storm at my feet, and throwing the greatsword. then I summon the berzerker, and dodge roll into something. at this point I immediately cry of frustration, then use another dodge and a decoy to get two more clones out. if necessary I switch weapons to throw down another phantasm but since I count as an illusion when shattering I usually just mind wrack right then and there.

At this point I’ve unloaded a ton of damage directly into the back half of an approaching zerg. the front line of the zerg is turning around screaming “STACK STACK ON PIN!” or something like that, and the rear of the formation is lamenting their missing traveler runes and wondering why they showed up to fight.

If it seems unfair to you that your shatter build isn’t working in WvW, you’re not doing WvW right. When you’re in a zerg, you’re either steamrolling or you’re getting steamrolled. As a mesmer, you’re never dead weight to your team. Portaling golems is an incredibly valuable skill. Portaling team members up to the lord after a zerg just steamrolled your keep, and someone didn’t check for mesmers? well, sucks to be them. Sure the walls are paper now but whatever, you got it back.

If you get the impression that you’re just not getting as much out of your mesmer than another class, well, play what you want!

Tentacle Love.3412:

I’ve had no problems using my shatter build in large zerg v zerg fights, it’s very easy to mistime though and you very much so need to be prepared.

I usually start by slamming myself down in the middle of the zerg when we attempt to split it open, putting a chaos storm at my feet, and throwing the greatsword. then I summon the berzerker, and dodge roll into something. at this point I immediately cry of frustration, then use another dodge and a decoy to get two more clones out. if necessary I switch weapons to throw down another phantasm but since I count as an illusion when shattering I usually just mind wrack right then and there.

At this point I’ve unloaded a ton of damage directly into the back half of an approaching zerg. the front line of the zerg is turning around screaming “STACK STACK ON PIN!” or something like that, and the rear of the formation is lamenting their missing traveler runes and wondering why they showed up to fight.

If it seems unfair to you that your shatter build isn’t working in WvW, you’re not doing WvW right. When you’re in a zerg, you’re either steamrolling or you’re getting steamrolled. As a mesmer, you’re never dead weight to your team. Portaling golems is an incredibly valuable skill. Portaling team members up to the lord after a zerg just steamrolled your keep, and someone didn’t check for mesmers? well, sucks to be them. Sure the walls are paper now but whatever, you got it back.

If you get the impression that you’re just not getting as much out of your mesmer than another class, well, play what you want!

I love how you just countered “My phantasms cant get their attacks off/do damage” with “You can portal your teammates places!”

Jackums.3496:

Mesmers, period, aren’t designed to offer much in the way of AoE damage in large groups. We’re a dueling/skirmishing profession by design, and primarily utility in a zerg.

I don’t think this needs to be changed, and we don’t need to give people more reason to whine about phantasm builds being over-powered in 1v1s.

i have to disagree with u. no class should be forced to be a utility support character that cant contribute to dmg and only veil a zerg and then stand back and wait till veil is ready again. also no class should be a 1v1 class only.
anet stated clearly that every class is gonna be more or lesss equal and that there arent any clear roles like support/healer/tank/dps, so no i dont wannna be stuck with a duelist only class as a light armor. duelist is always medium armor

Some guys in here seem to have made different experiences.

Fact: Shatter builds work in wvw sized battles.

And my experience is that izerker gets its attack off more often than not.

Babacloanta.7640:

BlackDevil.9268:

Well.. cant really say anything else but ‘’learn to place’‘. Yes, it does gets destroyed, but if you use it on backline targets you’ll most likely get the full dmg from it.
Also, phantasm specs aren’t supposed to be viable in large group fights. That’s where shatter plays a role.

True. Mesmer can be a very good weapon in a good hand.
Shatter can be used in duel, small, large and zerg fights.
You can flank running enemies, “mix” backline fighters, be a false target in enemies front, stomp downed enemies, etc. Of course veil and TW are some good options in large fights.

if u are meeting a 40+ man zerg, there will be no clones to give a false target, there will be also very limited phantasm dmg as they maybe get 1 hit done, but die right after. the necro and cc spam by warriors, plus eles aoes is killing them wayyyy to quick. veil and tw is support again and not everyone wants to be a veilbot. even with backline our aoe is simply not good enough for zergs atm. if they were to buff our glambuilds again, then we would have fun again and actually be able to kill.

selan.8354:

Babacloanta.7640:

BlackDevil.9268:

Well.. cant really say anything else but ‘’learn to place’‘. Yes, it does gets destroyed, but if you use it on backline targets you’ll most likely get the full dmg from it.
Also, phantasm specs aren’t supposed to be viable in large group fights. That’s where shatter plays a role.

True. Mesmer can be a very good weapon in a good hand.
Shatter can be used in duel, small, large and zerg fights.
You can flank running enemies, “mix” backline fighters, be a false target in enemies front, stomp downed enemies, etc. Of course veil and TW are some good options in large fights.

if u are meeting a 40+ man zerg, there will be no clones to give a false target, there will be also very limited phantasm dmg as they maybe get 1 hit done, but die right after. the necro and cc spam by warriors, plus eles aoes is killing them wayyyy to quick. veil and tw is support again and not everyone wants to be a veilbot. even with backline our aoe is simply not good enough for zergs atm. if they were to buff our glambuilds again, then we would have fun again and actually be able to kill.

Even then, there are enough people around the sides of the fight to cast izerker on. Even with small choke points, target an enemy at the end of the choke. I’ve yet to see izerker fail because of too much cc or damage on the backline of the enemy.

Ross Biddle.2367:

…
I love how you just countered “My phantasms cant get their attacks off/do damage” with “You can portal your teammates places!”

Since I don’t have the problem of my zerker not doing damage, I don’t know where to begin.

I’ve never encountered a situation in wvw where my zerker was a wasted skill. It’s massive damage every 12-16 seconds. It doesn’t spawn at me and spin into aoe. I’m never dumb enough to run head-on into a zerg yelling STAAAACK.

It works just fine, because I do.

I’m on Blackgate, and I tried running a phantasmal build for a few weeks there. I even went as far as to use the +50% hp signet and the +20% hp trait just so my iBerzerker could get one attack off on the back line before I shattered it. More often than not, I’d say 80% of the time, with the fights there, it would still die before attacking.

I wouldn’t be opposed to 1.5 seconds of damage immunity. It wouldn’t make them any stronger than they are in spvp, pve, 1v1, but it would help with the massive amount of AoE in WvW. In these other formats(not so much pve), you have to dodge the first attack from iBerzerker and then kill it. That’s how you beat a phantasmal mesmer. So the 1.5 seconds of damage immunity to ensure it gets off at least one attack would be a quality of life change and nothing more in my opinion. Their cooldowns are pretty unforgiving, and given how you need to spec and gear to make phantasms truly optimal, that 16 seconds the first time it dies, blowing your defensive cooldowns, and then the next 16 second cooldown where it dies before attacking once again, is pretty unforgiving.

Personally I’ve found that iZerker works alright in WvW if you’re actually directly on the frontline, which is generally when close-quarters players start to close the distance with rush/leap moves. There are few AoEs coming down at that point (besides might stacking, etc and they aren’t that common), and most of them are aimed dead ahead, and they don’t really start to rain till the lines have met.

I try to hit the midline (avoiding the rushers) with an iZerker and usually get at least one spin in because everyone is looking at the zerg coming in directly in front of them and not at their flanks where said phantasm tends to show up. The cripple is nice, the damage is very decent, and a lot of players will use up a dodge to try and avoid it, either way you’re doing your zerg a service. As a utility type character in a zerg, I feel that my entire task becomes to try and make things easier for the rest of my zerg. Ie. I help where I can and they do the final killing. I really only wade in close when I see a specific opportunity: an enemy rezzer, downed friendly, nearly-downed enemy, etc.

But I digress.

Aside from the above, I also find the iZerker to be useful for cutting down stragglers so the horde can catch them or discouraging rezzers (no-one wants to be kneeling next to a downed player while a spinning purple ghost thing is hitting them for several thousand), again acting in line with a utility position in a zerg.

Granted, the above don’t always work, but I do feel that iZerk (amongst the other GS skills) make it worth taking the GS in WvW as long as mesmers start thinking in a utility mentality while in a zerg rather than the duelling mindset many of us are so comfortable in.