Guild Wars 2

Hey folks. I’ve just finished up another weapon guide over here.

This one is about the sword both Main Hand and Offhand and means there’s just the scepter and the dreaded water weapons to go.

If you want a guide on a different weapon just hit the Mesmer 101 tab and enjoy.

Nice, thank you.

There’s a small error in the #1 description, Vulnerability stacks in intensity, not duration.
In other words you can’t stack it to 25 on your own, as the first stack will expire after 6,5s, independent of the other stacks.

Well, after reading various guides, I also decided to try out the only melee weapon for Mesmers. Now I use Scepter/Torch and Sword/sword.

The blocking skill (sword offhand slot 4) it pretty much the same as scepters blocking skill (slot 2).

The main advantage of of swords is (imo) the attack speed. They are slot faster than the scepter or staff. The attack speed is important for my bleeding build. The trait “illusion crit causes bleeding” is awesome and the base of it.
Personally I don’t like phantasms much since you need to cast them and they usually burst + wait. During the waiting time, illusions would cause bleeding. So instead of “fury for phantasms I chose +50 precision with a sword”.

The only 2(~3) reasons for casting phantasms (for me) are:
1. Illusions grant regeneration (trait). Fits with the iSwordman because he’s in melee range of the target yet, 2m away to not die so soon.
2. 50% damage reduction from iDefender.

Carighan.6758:

Nice, thank you.

There’s a small error in the #1 description, Vulnerability stacks in intensity, not duration.
In other words you can’t stack it to 25 on your own, as the first stack will expire after 6,5s, independent of the other stacks.

You can stack it to 25, I just wasn’t at all clear on the fact that’s very hard to do and only doable with 3 clones and time warp. But you’re right 100% about the ambiguity there so I’ve clarified it a little bit. I’ll be going more into how conditions work a little bit in teh future.

Nretep.2564:

Well, after reading various guides, I also decided to try out the only melee weapon for Mesmers. Now I use Scepter/Torch and Sword/sword.

The blocking skill (sword offhand slot 4) it pretty much the same as scepters blocking skill (slot 2).

The main advantage of of swords is (imo) the attack speed. They are slot faster than the scepter or staff. The attack speed is important for my bleeding build. The trait “illusion crit causes bleeding” is awesome and the base of it.
Personally I don’t like phantasms much since you need to cast them and they usually burst + wait. During the waiting time, illusions would cause bleeding. So instead of “fury for phantasms I chose +50 precision with a sword”.

The only 2(~3) reasons for casting phantasms (for me) are:
1. Illusions grant regeneration (trait). Fits with the iSwordman because he’s in melee range of the target yet, 2m away to not die so soon.
2. 50% damage reduction from iDefender.

I really like the way Melee Mesmer works, I intend on doing a full blog post about it in the not too distant future as I think it’s really quite a fun way of playing.

You can stack it to 25, I just wasn’t at all clear on the fact that’s very hard to do and only doable with 3 clones and time warp. But you’re right 100% about the ambiguity there so I’ve clarified it a little bit. I’ll be going more into how conditions work a little bit in teh future.

Hum … 9 + 4 + 1 + ~6 + 3 + 1 + 1 = 23, so close to 25 stacks without Time Warp.

Lot of effort though!

EasymodeX.4062:

You can stack it to 25, I just wasn’t at all clear on the fact that’s very hard to do and only doable with 3 clones and time warp. But you’re right 100% about the ambiguity there so I’ve clarified it a little bit. I’ll be going more into how conditions work a little bit in teh future.

Hum … 9 + 4 + 1 + ~6 + 3 + 1 + 1 = 23, so close to 25 stacks without Time Warp.

Lot of effort though!

Lots of effort for really not much benefit, unfortunately. Vulnerability is just not a very good Condition when you’re on your own. If you’re with others it stacks to 25 effortless anyways.