Guild Wars 2

I’m currently trying to figure out if a build I want to roll is really “viable”, per say, or rather, if it is the most effective I want it to be – so I figured I would post it here and let others comment with their views of it.

First and Foremost: I like the Greatsword. I like the Staff. I also sort of like the Sword/Focus, but this build is going to be running a mostly Greatsword use, with Staff as defensive backup (as usual).

The build: http://tinyurl.com/cj7jpdx

Review:
3600 “Effective” power – which is quite high for a “Hybrid” build
40% Crit Chance
81% Crit Damage
16k Health
1000 Toughness (FotM minimum)
Swiftness on 20s cooldown with +20% duration
Clone causes cripple + random condition
+9% Damage for 3 clones, which is almost always
Dodge Clones

The general idea:
The general idea here is to be a Power/Crit Greatsword build, but with a little bit more fun than just standing there and letting your Phantasms whoop on people while your laser beam pews. Because I find Phantasm builds to be generally unreliable (and boring) in PvE, I don’t tPvP, and are a hit or miss in WvW, I like the idea of WANTING my clones to explode and be destroyed. So to me, after a Phantasm has been summoned and has done his initial attack, it’s more beneficial for me to explode it and cause (figurative) confusion and some effects. If it happens to stick around for another attack, great. If not, I’ll summon another as soon as the Cooldown is up. I’ll shatter situationally or for a large burst (Mind Wrack) still, as long as I know I can get 2-3 clones up instantly again as well.

I’m rocking full Berserker Gear with the Centaur runes – mostly just for the frequent Swiftness (I WvW a lot), but also the Bleed Duration and extra power doesn’t hurt at all. My trinkets are Berserker as well, but I leave some room in Geming these for health. This is more up to your gearing style though. I don’t have Ascended gear yet, and could probably swap out some gems once I had it for more DPS too. It’s a bit “Glass Cannon” style, but the kiting potential is huge with Cripples on clone death, and I strongly feel that Mesmers have enough tricks to stay alive that Vit/Toughness won’t help much.

I use a Greatsword as my Primary weapon because the Power/Crit causes my auto attacks to be quite deadly still with this gear/traits, and also because Mirror Blade gives me an illusion every 6 seconds. Not to mention dodge rolling clones from having Vigor so often on Crits.

The only downside to the entire build is that the Dodge Clones with Greatsword stand at range, so blowing them up by replacing them isn’t all that beneficial. But this is easily solved by some situational positioning, and is just that – situational – anyways. In PvE dungeon runs I find mobs to be chasing me or close enough usually anyways.

Thoughts? Sound effective? Sound fun?

After playing this build tonight I can confirm:

A) It’s damage output is very substantial, and it plays sort of like a Shatter/Clone Suicide Hybrid, with great Auto attack damage using Greatsword.
B) It’s fun as hell

I rolled with Decoy, Blink and Null Field… Mirror Images seemed very unnecessary.

Try it out!

I’ve been hearing a lot of hate for the GS, so I think I’ll try this build out and put some hope back in the GS lol. Thanks for the time, post, and effort

Nice build, but it doesn’t seem ‘Hybrid’, just Glass.. 16k health and base toughness is glass, no matter what way you slice it. Doesn’t mean this is at all not viable.

I do wonder how you fare against condition heavy specs? With 16k they can bleed you out pretty fast.. That’s one of the base weaknesses of the mesmer, which I always like to cover partially by having some more vit.

Other then that, fun looking build.

The only error I see is that you don’t understand what means when clones are killed. Clones can only be killed when the mobs or players actually kill them, or are replaced by another clone or phantasm. When you shatter, you are not killing them.

I say all of this cause when you shatter, crippling and debilitation dissipation don’t work, so you don’t stack conditions on foes.
So there’s no reason to go with these traits if you shatter a lot. Because of that, 10 points in chaos are useless.

I suggest you to focus on one thing. It might be fun to be able to do everything at first, but after a while, you want to optimize your damage and these all-doing builds come outdated. If you get bored with phantasm builds, then go and try some shatter ones.

As already mentioned, 10 pts in chaos is almost useless in a shatter centred build you won’t get the random conditions when shattering illusions. Put those 10 points into illusions and you got the “standard” gs shatter build, which is indeed really good. I use it in wvw roaming and pve.

I run a similar build on my Mesmer though I often change over to the S/P when I just want to explode a target. However, I only use zerker items for my weapons and chest armor. Other than this, I run a full knight’s set in order to avoid the “glass” side of the build. So far, I’ve gone solo against a D/D Ele and another GS Mesmer. The Ele died in a matter of seconds and the battle with the other Mesmer went with us both winning 1 match. In either case, it’s pretty fun and even makes PvE more interesting.

I was mostly gearing this towards PvE, and large scale WvW where clones exploding everywhere is useful. 1v1 this would be a bit too Glass Cannon probably to be effective, yeah.

It’s funny how you guys assumed this was a Shatter build though? I even said:

“I’ll shatter situationally or for a large burst (Mind Wrack) still, as long as I know I can get 2-3 clones up instantly again as well.”

With over 600 hours on my Mesmer, I’m well aware that clones on death traits don’t happen when I shatter… it’s annoying when people on forums assume nobody knows anything. The idea is to Shatter for a Mind Wrack burst, or huge Vulnerability stack (Shatter 3) to add onto Mirror Blades 9 stacks (when I’m close with the extra bounce), but only when I have the ability to immediately obtain 3 clones again for the 9% damage increase, and to continue the Ranged DPS/suicide cycle.

I have the ability to generate clones like crazy with this.

It’s similar to a Shatter builds trait allocation, yes, but the traits chosen are varying from that. I will admit I shattered more than I had initially intended when rolling CoF last night, but I still really like having the 2 on Death traits. Makes kiting stuff very easy – and kiting is fun.

I guess I don’t feel like it’s a full on Shatter build because I’m spending more time looking at clone positioning/CD’s, than I am Shatters. Shatters just happen to be a byproduct of the build/class.

Oh well.

Here’s my current theorycrafted build for reference – armour and trinkets still up in the air, but I wanted to share it as feedback for your build.
http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/mesmer/?4.1|1.1g.h15|6.1o.h15|1c.7r.1c.7r.1c.7r.1c.7r.1c.7r.1c.7r|1p.61.1g.61.1g.61.1g.61.1g.61.1c.61|a5.p2a.a5.5.k37|15.7|31.3j.34.35.3o|e

Damage is slower and more sustained, but a little more survivable. I can do with some more precision, so will be adjusting gear accordingly.
Still tempted by some rampagers, because conditions are non-negligable, and can contribute damage – even a few hundred here and there. But because of that it’s hard to find a sweet spot. Condition damage is like a bottomless pit with this build, one I’m not sure how far to fill or whether it’s even worth filling in the first place!

Mantra of resolve swappable for pain inverter, blink, feedback, or whatever else is suitable for the situation.
Compared to yours it’s easy to see my biggest weakness – speed.

And regarding the posts mentioning shatter – just because a build isn’t optimised for shattering doesn’t mean you can’t use it – they still have utility and deal damage. It is the class mechanic after all and worth using in any build.
For me shattering is situational
- if I need invulnerability now, hit F4
- if I’m being focused and clones are too far away to be useful, shatter (daze is good) and refresh
- if you’re on the offensive it can help for a short attacking burst

Work in progress!

I like the idea of having 20k HP and at least 20% reduction from Toughness, but it’s just too much of a sacrifice to an already not-all-out DPS build. I only got downed maybe once last night, as with GS out majority of the time I’m at 1000+ range. Easy to avoid things at 1000+ range if you know the fights.

For WvW I usually roam ZvZ or in medium/large groups, so the same applies – I’d be hanging out at the back, or near a group of people, and as a Mesmer in a huge zerg if I get singled out I just Decoy, or GS#5 people away and dodge roll, or Staff swap and phase retreat, etc.

I guess my point is: I don’t need survival stats the way I play the game.

I’m actually considering trying 20/25/0/0/25, to drop the “random condition” on death, and instead gain 3 seconds of confusion on clone death, plus allow me to get might on shatters. Since I do seem to shatter on Cooldown but still want to play it as a Clone Suicide build, and Mirror Blade (when close enough) is basically perma might stacking as well.

I know the confusion is only 3 seconds and would only do like 170 per stack, but it might be better than weakness/bleed/vulnerability I think if you consider the extra Might from shatters. I get tons of bleeds from having a high crit already, and Vulnerability from Daze shattering + Mirror Blade spam.

Will have to give it a shot tonight.

• Keep in mind, most of this is entirely related to PvE. I don’t tPvP/sPvP, and only ever roam with groups in WvW. I don’t care much for 1v1’s because 1) I’m bad or 2) Class balance is annoying. Although I think I could hold my own in a 1v1 still by kiting…