Guild Wars 2

I read all the threads here and there’s lots of discussion of WvW and PvE builds.. not a lot about sPVP. I mainly do solo queue at least for now (I don’t know anyone to team with and am probably not good enough.) Any suggestions on good builds for sPVP?

I’m currently running a variation of my ‘black convertible’ build which switches between a Blackwater PU config and something more like Blackdevil’s hybrid setup. I have some success though not a great deal.. likely due at least in part to a lack of experience and execution skill.

Hoping for some new ideas in something I can handle at my skill level (which likely rules out shatter builds as I don’t seem to have what it takes to pull that off.) Thanks!

Note: Not looking for “roll a _ since mesmers are no good in sPVP” type responses.

Builds are denoted appropriately (for the most part) in the build sticky if you want to use that as a first point of reference.

Thanks. I have looked there but it’s hard to tell what’s current and what would be appropriate for a newer player, so I was hoping for a bit of personal recommendation.

Well, everything in the list is supposed to be current, and looks that way to me for the most part. As far as a recommendation goes, phantasm might be the best to start with (see Pyroatheist’s overpowered build). It’s one of the easier mesmer builds to play and will let you get used to the PvP maps and strategies. If you want something with a bit higher skill cap, you can foray into the lockdown build section where there are many options, all good.

Condi PU: Blackwater
Power Lockdown: Mindcrush
Power Phantasm: Pyro Overpowered
Power Shatter: Osicat Heavy or Mists

Never inhibit yourself. For anything you do in life. Nothing is beyond your capacity to learn.

Pick up the 20/20/0/0/30 standard shatter build and start practicing with it. Sensotix’s stealth shatter would be a good start ( grab shattered concentration. blade training and DE in dueling, Compounding power, shatter recharge, iPersona in Illusions)

Watch Sensotix’s SoloQ and Vash’s new video for reference points.. Shatter builds arent difficult, they just take a bit more time investment. Give youself a week and you’ll be shattering like a boss, but just make sure to learn from your mistakes rather than thinking you’re not skilled enough else itll take longer to learn… kinda like everything else in life.

Thanks for the replies.

Chaos, in general I ascribe to your theory. But I also understand taking things in stride. One of the difficulties with PvP for newcomers is lack of experience with other classes.. there are 8 and I’ve only so far played 3. I also don’t have the best reaction times. I need to know my limits and take things slowly.. and I don’t want to be a burden on teams either.

To put it another way.. I see a lot of folks saying the Blackwater build is “cheesy” or “too easy” but I still often struggle with it. Maybe I need to get to the point where I also find it too easy and then I’ll know I’m ready for something more challenging.

I did watch Vash’s video and it’s about as good as I’ve seen. But it’s still really hard to get a sense of how to get the timing and positioning right. A 20/20/0/0/30 build also has no toughness or vitality boost and when I’ve tried it in the past, I’ve died frustratingly quickly.

I’ve tried the phantasm build with some success. Mindcrush I never was able to get the hang of but I’ll keep trying.

Thanks again.

Thats what hotjoin is for. =P Hotjoin is pretty much a giant training ground to learn new builds/classes. I think you should stick with shatter for now since the skills youll learn from that playstyle benefits many other builds, including the lockdown.

There are a few, but it comes down to what you enjoy playing like.

My two favourites are a Phantasm build and a Shatter build.

I’ve been using a variant of BlackDevils hybrid Phantasm build in sPvP and if you ask me it’s far better then the PU/Condie builds everyone cries about.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Maximised-Hybrid-Phantasm-Build-Roaming

Using his build is a good start even for sPvP, you just have to tweak it to fit sPvP and your own play-style.

Blackwater/PU is losing it’s luster as people adapt to it. It’s a great build, but it depends on an overly aggressive opponents, and lately more and more people “get it” and slow down when facing it. BlackDevils is quite the opposite, pretty aggressive in nature; not as much as a shatter build of course, but not nearly as reactive as PU/Condie.

I’ve been using some variant of Blackdevil as my “base” for PvP for a long time, but I find people adapt to it as well. It has limited defense and good players who can identify the “real me” can burst me down pretty fast. The lack of condition removal is also often a problem for me.

They are both good and I continue to work on a way to get the “best of both worlds”. I do find it useful to change things up and surprise people once they think they have you figured out as being a standard build.

Chaos: I find that in hotjoin I spend at least a third of the time in the downed state or waiting for a respawn. The dueling servers can be useful at times, though there are griefers in them as well as a lot of people who want to stand around and chat..

Qaelyn.7612:

Chaos: I find that in hotjoin I spend at least a third of the time in the downed state or waiting for a respawn. The dueling servers can be useful at times, though there are griefers in them as well as a lot of people who want to stand around and chat..

[OMFG] is kidnapping you this weekend. You will emerge a gladiator when we’re through!

OMFG!

Look forward to it.

I’ll probably be online in the evenings as well (since I’m a freaking addict to this game right now.)

BTW I am starting to realize why people hate mesmers so much… seems most really don’t have any idea how to play against them. I was just in a hotjoin match where I watched an opponent literally — I mean literally — chasing two of my phantasms in circles around a column, while I stood a few paces away and watched.

I like to practice watching duels against other mesmers. I just play “follow the bouncing player”, trying to keep my eye on the real mesmer and off the clones. I find it does help over time.

Qaelyn.7612:

BTW I am starting to realize why people hate mesmers so much… seems most really don’t have any idea how to play against them. I was just in a hotjoin match where I watched an opponent literally — I mean literally — chasing two of my phantasms in circles around a column, while I stood a few paces away and watched.

I like to practice watching duels against other mesmers. I just play “follow the bouncing player”, trying to keep my eye on the real mesmer and off the clones. I find it does help over time.

Yes, spectating can be helpful but doesn’t honestly come close to doing it for real in my experience. I would suggest to grab a fellow OMFG member and propose to duel. If you do that for an hour even, your ability to not only detect who the mesmer is, but also learn to fight against them is increased dramatically. Of course if you continue to do it consistently you’ll quickly find mesmers aren’t intimidating or difficult to fight, which is where a lot of newer PvP’ers are.

Now, there’s no quick fix to anything, but I found that to be immensely helpful, and it’s really right at your fingertips (just rep the guild and throw out a feeler).

Thanks. I am doing a lot of solo queue and occasional dueling as well. I do check the OMFG roster from time to time, though usually most people are elsewhere.

And I continue rotating through various builds still trying to find the magic combination that will work for me. It may take a while. In the meantime I do feel I’m getting better at this in general. I also am finding I prefer the more aggressive phantasm DPS style over the more passive PU style, which is a change that’s evolved over the last week or so…

Thanks for the reply.

Qaelyn.7612:

BTW I am starting to realize why people hate mesmers so much… seems most really don’t have any idea how to play against them. I was just in a hotjoin match where I watched an opponent literally — I mean literally — chasing two of my phantasms in circles around a column, while I stood a few paces away and watched.

Yeh sometimes it is hard not to roll your eyes in disbelief.

I had a d/d thief opening on me from miles away with hs spam. I popped into stealth and so did he… Only to make an all out attack on one of my clones. He then ran away and stated in map chat that mesmer’s only had dumb over powered builds.

When he later on died to me and a necromancer, he whispered me, that my condition spec was lame. I did not reply but I was shaking my head as I was playing shatter at the time.

I also got to watch the good old classic, where someone stomped my downed clone while I was a few meters away from it, fully visible with a big red arrow over my head…

Hot join has it’s entertaining moments indeed.

Hi guys,

I just installed GW 2 and I have to say I’m absolutely loving the mesmer in pvp. They’re deceptive, I love the glamour skills and the mobility and elusiveness blink and decoy give.

That being said, I am still getting my kitten kicked 1 v 1 by most people :p I am currently running the stealth shatter build but I have no idea if I’m playing it right. Anyone want to ‘duo queue’ and give some tips?

Let me know!

I definitely responded and somehow my post got obliterated. X.x

Feel free to add me or anyone else with [OMFG] in their signature and we’d be happy to help. What build are ya runnin?