Guild Wars 2

I was looking at builds for my mesmer as I level. I liked the idea of a condition build based off of the Staff. I created my own build and was going to go with Scepter/Focus as my swap. I went to play after creating this build and almost immediately reverted to running around with GS/Staff. I find this immensely powerful for leveling (mind you I am only at level 15 or so)

Does GS/Staff translate well into end game/PvP or is it more glass cannon-y? Any recommendations on how one would build off of these two weapons?

Toughness to hammer the AoEs? Still go for conditions (Staff would suggest it) right?

Any suggestions are appreciated.

I’ve been leveling with a GS/Staff too. Level 40 so far and it’s still pretty strong.

I’ve been seeing some power/precision builds with GS/Staff focusing on shatters with mirror images and GS #2 with using the iBerserker/iWarlock/staff illusion for damage.

In sPvP GS/Staff is more about the conditions/confusion/shatters with good support. I may be wrong.

I dunno about WvW though.

GS/Staff is a great combo for PvE leveling, due to its AOE and anti-melee capabilities (and the majority of your PvE opponents will be melee). Against range you pack Feedback and maybe Mimic or Mirror, and you’re good to go.

For an endgame PvP build (or PvE build), you will want to get specific if you plan on keeping with GS+Staff: mainly you will probably want to build Rampagers + Sharper Images, with a small dose of Carrion gear to provide a little raw pow/cdmg and Vit.

Edit: This basically means 0/15/0/0/5 for a skeleton build, and due to the weapon sets, Elasticity is pretty potent, so 0/15/0/0/20. Beyond that, you have lots of build options.

Awesome feedback. That and I think I have been reading the forums long enough to understand what you are talking about.

For now, I am going to continue to enjoy laying down some PvE dmg with my two handers. So much fun.

I love mesmer.

The main issue you will have with not keeping a 1h sword on a weapon swap is the inability to output high sustained damage on-demand in close quarters.

Without factoring in any of the other skills available to the sword, at close range the auto-attack greatly surpasses the sustained damage of both the staff and the greatsword. There are many locations in the world that are simply not conducive to kiting.

Furthermore, the ability for the sword to dispel boons off the target makes some fights much, much easier. For example: it can take the regeneration off of Skale-type enemies, making them trivial kills.

I’m not saying that it isn’t possible to level without a 1h sword on a swap, but it certainly can make some situations very difficult.

True, although Elasticity makes the Staff1 > Sword1 for damage, and you still have [limited] boon removal with GS3.

I’ve personally never seen how Staff/GS work together, at least in PvP.

Staff is weak dmg, condition based supporty stuff. I find if you’re going to use GS you’re probably going to be stacking Power, so you might as well make the offset make good use of it.

I enjoy Sword/Sword or Sword/Pistol myself.

Tiresias.6473:

The main issue you will have with not keeping a 1h sword on a weapon swap is the inability to output high sustained damage on-demand in close quarters.

Without factoring in any of the other skills available to the sword, at close range the auto-attack greatly surpasses the sustained damage of both the staff and the greatsword. There are many locations in the world that are simply not conducive to kiting.

Furthermore, the ability for the sword to dispel boons off the target makes some fights much, much easier. For example: it can take the regeneration off of Skale-type enemies, making them trivial kills.

I’m not saying that it isn’t possible to level without a 1h sword on a swap, but it certainly can make some situations very difficult.

Oddly enough I’ve found the staff to be pretty decent when in close combat, it’s all about keeping up chaos armor as long as possible, it works pretty well especially when you have 20 points into chaos for extra cd reduction for staff.

OP I’ve been struggling with the same problem, I love the staff and the greatsword but I cant seem to find a build I’m satisfied with for having both of them. I was doing 20/0/20/0/30 for a while but I’m still screwing around with different builds.

Good luck!

before 25 it matters little what you use

however for large group events the iwarlock is a beast. well except maybe claw of jormag? from what i could tell no conditions stacked on that bad boy.

don’t understand inspiration though. with only one phantasm out the regen has a long cooldown between applications and does not last very long at all.

and since greatsword 3 also removes boons i’m not sure that argument holds water for sword.

Doesn’t anyone else have a problem with the greatsword phantasm pulling extra mobs? it was driving me crazy so I stopped using it in pve. Haven’t really tried it much in pvp.

Greatsword and Staff have wonderful symmetry and work well in sPvP with a Rampagers load-out. Both weapons benefit from power primarily (iWarlock and iBerserker in particular) and the extra condition damage is key in making your staff conditions have some bite as well as making the bleeds you get from sharper images + GS clones super-awesome (GS clones are the best at applying bleeds thanks to their attack rate). Staff works well as a short-medium range weapon while GS occupies the medium-long range spectrum. Though don’t be shy about swapping to GS at short range for GS 2 and GS 5.

I’m totally in love with the GS, though. I loved it pre-fix, but now it’s borderline-OP.

For leveling, you have great AoE capabilities, for end-game PvE you have insane burst and great sustain in boss fights.

Sword/X is not a required set for Mesmers in any setting.

@ Toppins
I agree, it works really well for sPvP for me. I started playing sPvP with staff + sword/pistol, than changed to staff + sword/sword and now I stick to staff + GS. I probably use an unusual and not optimal build, but it works and feels fine for me.

Staff has better survival but sword is better damage.

Personally I dont pair them together but use either with sword/focus. If they are close in you want swords dps.

I’m only lvl 61 atm and was previously using GS/sword-focus because I can’t stand not having swift. But turning 60 I got some superior Runes of the Centaur for my swift needs (using it along with the 15s CD heal).

So since that switch I’ve been trying out GS/Staff (I only play in wvw pretty much, hardly any pve maps and never spvp). I have to say, nothing can disperse a zerg like this combo can. I run up, drop a Feedback, put a chaos field on top of it, summon Warlock, switch to GS, summon zerker and just watch everyone die or run within seconds. This combo can all be fired off almost instantly and also almost instantly stacks AOE confusion while dealing good damage. (I trait heavily into dueling for precision and stack power/prec on gear).

In situations where you become focused or in 1v1 situations, the survivability options are just awesome. In a huge zerg vs zerg when I become focused, dropping conditions + swifting by healing to blink to stealth = easily escape every time just to turn back around and start dishing out the pain again.

I always combo my feedback with a zerker, the confusion bolts + bleeds (sharper image) are outstanding.

All in all I’m really liking this weapon setup now that my swift situation has been dealt with, I also do love the sword though and would have just as much fun with GS and sword/sword or sword/pistol. GS GS GS though, GS 4 life!

It works, but I don’t think it has a very good “build” behind it. Staff applies conditions. A lot of conditions. It’s #1 and #5 skill is very weak without condition damage behind it. Which then effects both the phantasm and clone on the staff too. GS applies no damage conditions. Whatsoever. Even with a bleed on crit sigil or trait, in comparison it really needs power or crit. So it feels like you’re splitting your stats too much. I’d rather pair staff with another weapon that has conditions on it like offhand torch or scepter, and then GS with something that relies more on power and crit like offhand sword or pistol. But there might be a way to synergize the two I haven’t figured out.

Ignoring the off-hands is a huge mistake. It does not translate well into PvP or late game.

GS and Staff are both good standalone weapons, however I feel that Staff + Sword/OH combines better.

The reason for this comes down to combo fields, Chaos Storm and the flexibility Sword/OH gives.
Basically, having Sword lets you melee effectively, gives you a leap combo finisher and good survivability with Blurred Frenzy and Chaos Armor (from leap combo into Chaos Storm, Feedback etc.). This means you don’t have to run around in circles and lets you bunch multiple mobs relatively safely. As well, Chaos Storm is best when both you and the mobs are both standing in it – but greatsword #1 is going to do marginal damage if you do that.

Being able to safely stack mobs makes your shatters much more effective. As well, you can use Blurred Frenzy to invun after stacking confusion, allowing them to take confusion damage while you are untouched. On the other hand if you are running around with a GS/Staff, the mobs aren’t going to proc confusion much.

Finally, I feel choosing the right offhand (if solo most likely focus or pistol) gives you comparable utility to the greatsword. Focus #4 alone gives straight up better control than Greatsword, with speed, aoe cripple and a push/pullback. I also rate Warden more highly than Beserker, but thats more personal preference (both are whirl finishers, which is ok – but Warden doesn’t run out of the combo area half the time). I’ve found it’s actually easier to kite with Sword/Focus/Staff than GS/Staff, because you aren’t dependent on your phantasms for cripple/movement, letting you safely stack staff clones/phants.

I run a GS/Staff bursty build

GS burst is self explanatory.

To burst foes down with stuff, iWarlock would be doing majority of the damage while you stack debuffs. I find staff works great with GS for those tight moments, with Chaos Armor + Chaos Storm, there isn’t much that can hurt you. Meanwhile, your iWarlock is off in some corner popping off 4k-8k crits.

I run 20/25/20/0/5

Berserker’s gear and Divinity Runes

warlock is the most deadliest illusion from all, i’m curious when people learn to kill him asap especialy when mesmer pop up chaos storm and/or chaos armor it’s quite obvius they should target warlock now

I’m only level 25 right now, but I’m often experimenting with different weapons and utilities, as well as trying out a smattering of WvWvW (which I enjoy immensely, even though our server isn’t that great at it – so many stories are told on those battlefields). I started out looking forward to the staff and wasn’t disappointed when I finally got hold of one, using it either with GS or Scepter+Focus/Pistol.

This whole thread has been useful to me, but the quoted post in particular has really helped sort out a lot of questions and ideas in my head. I learned a lot from this, thank you! Definitely going to play around with a sword + torch combo. ^^