Guild Wars 2

My guild is very low on mesmers, only 3 of us, and I am the main. We run a 20-30 man raid, so I will be in the thick of things more often than not. One weapon set is sword and focus, but I am torn on what to run for the second weapon set. both seem to have there place.

I guess my question is this. Is one clearly better than the other? Do I just need to have one in my bag and switch out? I would rather not, but if it is the best option I will.

Thank you for the help.

That depends on the role u want to play and on the build you’re using.

In a nutshell:
GS – Damage
Staff – Support/Deff

greetz

By now you should have both, both have their uses. If by zerg you mean zerging in wvw then i’d suggest GS with sword/focus, if you solo roam then change GS for staff or you could just zone people with GS/Staff which makes people mad from what i’ve noticed. Both are great weapons and having both is absolutely necessary.

I’m sorry you’re being forced to play a mesmer in a zerg.

Run GS. If you have reliable swiftness from the Zerg then you can play around with your off set but I’ve found that focus is just to much of a utility to not have in a Zerg. If traited for reflect its awesome.
I’m actually in the same boat as you man. One of a few mesmers in the guild. So I bring as much to group buffing as I can when rolling with the guild group. I’ve gone 20/20/30/0/0 using boon duration everything. GS and Scepter/focus for interupts, stack up the might, aegis, protection, vigor, regen then pass on the goods using Sig of Insperation. Rabid geared everything. 2 sig of battle and one sig corruption. It’s just to bad Sig of Insperation only shares with 5 poeple. Laaaaame!!
If you just want bags and some group aid go lightly into a confusion build while using GS sword/focus. It’s pretty close to the amount of bags you’ll see on a necro.

It depends a lot on what sort of build you want to play, but in general, I’d recommend greatsword. the iZerker can do tons of damage just by whirling through an enemy zerg. The knockback from Illusionary Wave is also useful for stopping stomps and knocking people out of Shadow Refuge. Generally, in zerg v zerg combat, the victor is the side that kills the opposition the fastest and the most brutally. Staff will give you excellent defense, but won’t have the burst damage you need to accomplish that objective.

As others have said, the build really defines which is better but GS is likely the better overall choice. I’ve been running a very zerg disrupting build of late – it can be quite gratifying to get in the thick as you say, swing your GS #5 and watch everything in front of you stand still for a few seconds. The build runs Staff also, but sword/focus could potentially work, especially with the focus pull AoE interrupt potential.
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Build-ChillRuption

I like to use a GS with sigil of fire when I zerg. The fire aoe is great and has a lot of chances to proc due to the gs auto attack and iZerker crits.

GS with sigil of fire is the boss in a zerg. The GS also tags much more reliably than a staff (so more bags and karma).

I run GS/Staff when zerging. The staff is for buffs and situations where foes are in my face.

Staff might work alright for ZvZ these days. I’ve not used it much in WvW since the confusion nerf. Its auto-attack is simply too slow and Chaos Armor is weaker now. Regarding other weapons, Scepter is very weak and you probably want to stay away from off-hand sword and pistol unless you roam a lot.

Your strongest weapon is GS for ZvZ and I’ve lately become a fan of Prismatic Understanding and Sword main hand. After you blow your GS CDs, stealth and run through the zerg while you spam Sword 1. Also, the GS knockback has a ton of value in WvW for knocking enemies off walkways and cliffs. You can help tip the balance of a battle just by doing that.

Thanks so much for the info, it has been a big help.

After trying out both last night, GS was the clear win for the zerg fighting. It was a big help after getting my portal into the lords room on hills and using GS #5 to push people back so it was a bit safer for my group.

I will be going GS and sword/focus for my weapons, I like the idea of sig of fire on the GS.

Now to work out a build lol.

I was thinking since I will be in the heart of the fight a lot running lemongrass and mel runes so condition wont matter much.

Thanks everyone for the help.

Yeah running with guild against big groups you definitely want to be tanky as possible (soldiers was best, although you can go some rabid if condition) and use GS and sword/focus. I also had most success running with guild against zergs / other big guilds using melandru and matching food on top of this.

In terms of build there were mandatory utilities and then traits were all much of a muchness for me tbh, the key is don’t die, and then try to be as useful as possible while doing that. Seeing as glamour utilities (veil, nullfield) were mandatory for me, and I assume are for you, the old glamour/confusion raid build is still probably the best for fights of 20+, especially if you want loot as well. Then it was a choice of feedback or blink for 3rd slot, elite being TimeWarp.

At times I did run a variant of shatter with points in inspiration for the glamour traits which worked ok (relying on shatter on self and phantasms as obv clones die fast vs groups and mainly for clutch distortions and a bit of wrack). Daze/immobilise and taking staff for chaos storm was another one I tried that stands out, given how important mobility is, but found it pretty limited due to constant stability and enemy movement, may be worth a try for you though especially if you mainly fight pugs.

Guess it depends on the build. I have always found the staff to be essential when being a zergling. I generally run defensive/reflective builds, meaning not much traits left for the power tree. Traited staff on the other hand comes “for free”. Its not the perfect weapon, but things like sidestepping in the middle of 5 static fields (ie 2) is a life saver. Sure you got teleport, but generally not on a short cooldown. Chaos armor is up every other second, that help to (not to mention being able to drop chaos storm and combo the zerg). Since I like being up close and personal, I use the sword as my weapon of choice when actually trying to kill stuff in a zerg.

Carry both, swap them depending on the situation.

Think you might need iWave to push enemies off cliffs? GS.

Think you might need more survival? Staff.

Think you’ll be able to hide behind your frontline and pelt the enemy from a distance? GS.

Going solo roaming? Staff.

Attacking a keep/tower and need to spawn some iZerkers on the ramparts to help clear siege? GS.

Etc. etc. Both are good, never leave home, er, spawn, without both in your bags.

Like others have already mentioned, a sigil of fire GS is absolutely awesome in a zerg, and imho far outperforms the staff. That being said I actually run both. GS/Staff gives you the best of both world, but does admittedly turn you into a centaur rune addict (then again, even if I ran something else I’d still prefer them). The sword/focus set, while absolutely necessary to have, is the one I find the least useful in general and especially in a zerg, and so that’s typically the set I end up dragging around in my inventory.

But regardless, definitely carry both staff and GS with you. You’ll need both depending on context.

If you are set on sword / focus for your other set, I recommend traiting into reflective focus abilities. The well timed temporal curtain between initials on zergs will take care of more damage alone before your GS or illusions ever enter the picture.