Guild Wars 2

UPDATED FOR 6/23/15 PATCH

Who doesn’t love causing people untold frustration? Who doesn’t want to experience the glory of an opponent that can do nothing while you beat them down? This guide is meant to help people learn to play lockdown Mesmer, and where lockdown vets can share their tricks and tactics. If you play shatter, some of the following info could also apply to you.

1) Lockdown Traits, Builds
2) Predicting & Timing Interrupts
3) Chain Dazing
4) Weapons for a Lockdown Mesmer
5) Utilities of a Lockdown Mesmer
6) Questions & Answers
7) Videos
8) Other Lockdown Links

KEY
CI – Chaotic Interruption (Chaos XI)
CS – Confounding Suggestions (Domination XII)
MoD- Mantra of Distraction
Stomp – To kill a downed opponent via ‘F’ interaction
Rezz – To resurrect a downed ally.
Proc- To cause an effect to occur (“Sigils of air has a chance to proc damage on crit”)
RNG – Random Number Generator ; A chance for an effect to randomly occur (Chaos Storm procs RNG conditions)

KEY OBJECTIVES

• Interrupting Rezz/Stomps. With Mantra of Distraction, Focus, Greatsword, and offhand sword all offering multi-target interrupts –combined with our ability to strip boons- lockdown Mesmers are more equipped than most to prevent rezzing and save allies from stomps.

• Stripping Boons, especially stability. With the dominance of Guardians and the rise of Celestial + Might Stacking, our boon stripping ability makes us uniquely suited to rip away the defense and offense of many classes.

• Shutting down the targeted opponent. Whoever is targeted should be the main focus of your lockdown… most of the time. You’ll often have to keep an eye out for ranged enemies trying to safely take allies down from range.

• Locking down Lich Form/Plague Form/Tornado/Rampage/ect. Most of the dominance of these elites relies on a long-lasting stability. Take it from them and yank them around hilariously. Or simply use Signet of Humility to counter their elite.

LOCKDOWN TRAITS

• Bountiful Interruption Works great in any lockdown build by rewarding you with an extra 175 power (5x might) per interrupt AND a random boon. People often forget about the extra boon it provides, which can be anything from Protection/Vigor to Might/Regeneration. In fact, Bountiful is so good it works well even outside of lockdown builds as long as you have the right weapons.

• Furious Interruption Like bountiful, it’s not so great that you could focus a build around it, but it works well in a 6 Dom 6 Dueling lockdown build. It takes a while to get used to but can be really worthwhile with Sword and Greatsword, especially with the new Sigils of Rage

• Chaotic Interruption One of, if not the best lockdown trait. Chaotic hits with an immobilize AND cripple/chill/blind on itnerrupt. There isn’t much to say on this trait that hasn’t already been said. It rocks, even outside of lockdown builds depending on your weaponset.

• Power Block Power Block isn’t a bad trait, it’s simply one that suffers from the “why take this trait when I could have.. THIS TRAIT!!”-complex. It simply can’t compete with Confounding Suggestions and Chaotic Interruption. While it can really hurt an opponent’s play, it’s hard to tell in a group fight and hard to rely on since you really can’t see enemy cast bars. Still, it works well with chill to really slow up enemy cooldowns when it works.

• Confounding Suggestions Some people dislike how this skill seems to contradict itself with either a daze OR a stun. I find that it’s more a matter of perspective: both effects are a win/win, it’s just that you can’t predict what you’re going to get. A longer daze duration, combined with runes of the Mesmer, make for excellent chain dazing but the stun still ends up being superior because of how it cuts enemy movement. Since most of our dazes are single-target, I’ve found Confounding better for smaller groups and 1v1 situations.

TYPES OF LOCKDOWN MESMER

Lockdown traits are pretty flexible, and can produce a number of different builds. Here are a few reliable templates to get you started. In general, you can make almost any weaponset with an interrupt of some sort work… and torch, too. That’s a thing apparently.

Chaotic Interruption (4/4/6/0/0) : My personal favorite and, in my opinion, the best all-around lockdown spec. Chaotic Interruption relies on timing interrupts to be effective, but in this build every single interrupt will net decent damage (and perhaps proc fire/air sigils), 5x Might, a random boon, immobilize, and a random condition. Chaotic Interruption works with almost all weaponsets and there is a lot of flexibility in build choice.

Confounding Suggestion (6/6/0/2/0) : Shares the same role as CI, but instead of focusing on interrupts, Confounding Suggestions encourages chaining dazes/stuns one after another to keep the opponent shut down.

Condition Interrupt (0/4/6/0/4) : I can’t personally speak much for this build as I’ve rarely played it, but condition interrupt is a fun spec that can definitely be made to work effectively, especially in single-target fights.

PREDICTING & TIMING YOUR INTERRUPTS
While interrupting can seem random and lucky at times (though you’ll still play it off as epic skill!), there are a few strategies you can employ to help raise the probability that your interrupts will land. As a general rule, it’s never good to throw out MoD randomly in hopes of an interrupt Our interrupt priority generally goes:

1) Weapon Interrupt (spam these! Well.. spam them ‘strategically.’ In fact..the less you spam altogether probably the better. But weapon interrupts/dazes/stuns are good to start off your lockdown with, usually being followed up by…)

2) [F3] Diversion Interrupt I usually save Diversion for a sneaky chain-daze. I’ll use a weapon interrupt, space out some clones (2 or 3) with Deceptive Evasion and then send them out to daze one after another. This usually guarantees either an interrupt or a locked down opponent.

3) Mantra Interrupt These are the most specific and reliable interrupts we have, and thus our most valuable. Try to save mantra interrupts for: protecting yourself in bad situations, securing stomps/rezzes, interrupting heals.

BLIND INTERRUPTING
Reflexes aren’t quite up there to interrupt on-reaction? Not sure what the opponent is gonna do next? You reaallyyy wanna proc some damage/boons/immobilize!? Not a problem! You don’t always have to know what’s coming out in order to stuff it.

• Interrupting auto-attacks (Any) Interrupting auto-attacks is mostly useful if you want to secure an immobilize, nail a Halting Strike proc, or gain boons. It’s best to not waste a Mantra charge on interrupting auto-attacks; I’d recommend using whatever interrupt will recharge the quickest (usually weapon interrupts). Almost every auto can be interrupted, and it is simply a matter of watching the pattern of the animation to know when to time your interrupt.

• Interrupting after a dodge (Mantra) While it’s generally best to save your mantra interrupt for very specific moments, sometimes the most reliable way to predict an interrupt is to wait for the opponent to throw out a dodge and interrupt a split-second after. It’s a reflexive reaction to use a skill right after dodging, and in my experience you’re highly likely to interrupt whatever is about to come out.

• Interrupting a heal Keep an eye on when the enemy is near 50% HP, that is the usual time they’ll try to go on the defensive and heal up. Mantra zap dat fool!

• Interrupting behind a CC After you stun or daze an enemy, you can keep an eye on the stun/daze status icon on the opponent. When that icon disappears, there’s a 0.5-1 second period when the opponent is likely to perform a skill, usually a high-damage or tide-turner or heal[I observe][This also works for knockdown/pull, harder to tell, though]. There’s also the chance that they might just try to dodge away or, if thief, stealth/shadowstep. I tend to use an interrupt at this time and I tend to be able to chain my interrupts from then after so long as I continually hit in this interval. Always some exceptions, but this is a pattern I find works a lot. (From Dondagora.9645)

THE CHAIN-DAZE METHOD

Mesmer have some of the best chain-dazing potential in the game, capable of leaving a target unable to fight back for over 10 seconds without using Moa Morph. While it’s not hard to learn how to chain dazes one after another, knowing how to effectively daze while still dealing damage can take time and practice.

• Chain dazing is mostly used for incapacitating a single target.
• Never blow all your CC trying to lock down just one person.
• It’s better to begin chain-dazing after you have a phantasm on a target.
• [F3] Diversion can chain daze into itself with proper clone spacing, but should be done only if you have no Phantasms or can summon a Phantasms while the clones run to shatter.
• Superior Runes of the Mesmer work quite well with Confounding Suggestions.

One of the more difficult aspects of chain-dazing is knowing how to do damage while we keep the opponent locked down. A brute warrior with a hammer can mash away on their skills and do considerable damage while keeping an opponent stunlocked, conversely most Mesmer stunlocks do little to no damage at all, which is why auto-attacks, phantasms, and proper shattering all come in to play. Take the following rotations for example (special thanks to Veruah for inspiring me to write these)

(Confounding Suggestions)
Summon Phant > WeaponDaze > Mantra Daze > (Swap/Dodge) > Daze Shatter > Summon Phant + Mantra Daze > Mind Wrack after lulz

This rotation, performed with CS (Domination XII), keeps the opponent incapacitated while you hit them with heavy damage.

Most Lockdown builds that go into CI builds have superior defense, but CS lockdown have better damage and somewhat more reliable control. The CS chain displayed will likely kill or put near death almost any opponent that isn’t a bunker when executed properly. Confounding Suggestions kind of trips over itself by turning stuns into dazes, but a 2s daze in my opinion isn’t as strong as a 1s stun so both effects are welcome. Confounding is considerably more forgiving than Chaotic since it doesn’t rely on interrupts but an opponent can still kite you if they’re lucky. What I like about confounding is how well it synergizes with weapons like Offhand Sword and Pistol. Too many times have I been able to iLeap(2s Immob) >Pistol Phant > MantraDaze(Stun) > Pistol 3s Stun > Sigil of Dom 5s Stun to keep someone locked down for 11 freakin seconds!

So you know, of course.. once in a while I’ll Moa Morph that same person afterwards.

WEAPONSETS
Sword is pretty important for a lockdown build, not only is iLeap an AoE immobilize but sword allows you a variety of offhands to chose from. Offhand Sword, Focus, and Pistol all make for good choices, but Greatsword and Staff also provide a hefty amount of control.

• Offhand Sword: Offhand sword works reeallyyy well in a 6/4/4/ lockdown build because it has the shortest cooldown interrupt (that also happens to be a daze that pierces multiple targets, good for stopping stomps/rezzes) and provides excellent damage. iSwordsman demands enemy attention with it’s rapid heavy hits and even when you’re not using the sword daze, the counter hits like a truck. Out of all the offhands, this is my personal favorite both for the aesthetic of wielding two swords like a total and complete boss, and for the high damaging in-your-face fighting style.

• Offhand Pistol: The pistol… I never use it.
  Not because it’s bad or sub-par in any kind of way, but it simply isn’t my preference. The phantasm, iDuelist, may not deal as much damage as the Swordsman due to being much more easy to evade but it has the advantage of sitting safely out of range while it unloads shots on an enemy, forcing them to either spend a dodge, reposition, or suffer the consequences. The pistol’s ranged 2s stun is niiice, especially combined with Signet of Domination and/or Sigil of Paralyzation. I’d rate this stun above the offhand sword’s daze because of how it cuts enemy movement and reliably bounces to daze a second target, and blind a third, giving a diminishing form of lockdown for each bounce.

• Offhand Focus: This is what I currently use. The Focus is the best lockdown-focused weapon in my opinion because of Temporal Curtain’s multi-purpose field and Warden’s projectile nullifying. Though it’s currently bugged, it’s still the best aoe-oriented lockdown offhand of the bunch.

• Staff Staff is my favorite weapon for many reasons, but it works well in a lockdown build because of Chaos Storm/Armor. Chaos Storm’s lockdown works defensively and offensively. It punishes anyone standing in the field with debilitating conditions, making it very difficult to do damage but also it dissuades people from ever standing within it’s relatively large AoE, which allows you 6 seconds of area denial. Chaos Armor is worth mention here too because of it’s ability to inflict blind/cripple. Blind in particular is the most important here, and is the reason why BLASTing an Ethereal field for AoE Chaos Armor is so valuable as it really hurts enemy AoEs.

• Greatsword Greatsword offers excellent offensive pressure and a fair bit of control. The offensive pressure is worth noting because that in itself is a form of control; used on an enemy that’s not targetting you, they’re forced to either disengage from their target or soak up a huge amount of damage. Mind Spike, iZerker, and iWave all work as control abilities, spike is an AoE boonstrip while zerker AoE cripples and wave is a push/interrupt. While I personally don’t use Greatsword very often it makes for one of the best ranged options in a lockdown build besides Scepter/Pistol.

UTILITIES

• iDisenchanter/Nullfield/Arcane Thievery These make up your boon/condition manipulation options and usually you’ll only be able to pick one. The safest and most reliable choice is Null Field, offering an ETHEREAL Field (already wrote why chaos armor is a good control ability) in addition to 5 pulses of boon/condition stripping. The drawback here is that the enemy can easily walk out of the field to avoid getting stripped and Null Field isn’t very good when you’re being hit with multiple conditions at once. Disenchanter is my personal favorite, though it can be tricky to use and becomes less reliable the more opponents/allies are in a fight. Every 4 seconds it shoots a bouncing projectile that strips 2 boons and conditions among 5 people, it’s excellent for smaller fights and 1v1s but falls short in big battles. Arcane Thievery is hit-or-miss. It can be excellent to strip boons and can really hurt when you throw conditions back on an enemy, but its rather long cooldown holds it back and sometimes it isn’t ideal spend your condition removal to steal boons. I like Arcane Thievery to use against warriors, engineers, necro/ele (transformations), and guardians.

• Signet of Domination/Mantra of Distraction While Mantra of Distraction is the main interrupt utility, Signet of Domination offers a stronger form of control in a meaty 3-second stun. Combined with Pistol and Sigil of Paralyzation (and if you’re feeling particularly lockdown-y Domination XII- Confounding Sugestions and Runes of the Mesmer) you can keep someone shut out of a fight for well over 6 seconds… and then why the hell not Moa them for ultimate trolling? Mantra of Distraction requires a bit more finesse, it’s best reserved for when you can predict an interrupt opportunity such as when an enemy is going to heal or when an elementalist is going to do … anything.

RUNES/SIGILS

• Runes of the Mesmer Works well with Confounding Suggestions, adding to the daze duration to give nearly 2s dazes, the power/precision it offers is nice as well.

• Runes of Lyssa Still one of the best condi-removal runes and works well with Mass Invis to save yer cheeks in tight condition-heavy situations.

• Runes of the Pack An excellent rune to run with the Focus and 30 Chaos, giving 19 seconds of swiftness, Power/Precision stats, AND Might/Fury/Swiftness!

• Runes of Grenth The big thing here is the Chill-on-Heal. It works instantly with Mantra of Recovery and has a slight delay on the other heals. When you merge this with Runes of Hydromancy, you can start stacking up some major AoE Chill even in a power build. (Chill is a great control ability, putting enemy skills on longer cooldown AND crippling their movement speed worse than.. er, Cripple.)

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
Have a question? See it answered! Hopefully that answer will go on to help dozens of others.

VIDEOS
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Videos-Lockdown-Mesmer-in-the-Mists

New vids coming soon!

OTHER LOCKDOWN LINKS

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/The-Lockdown-Mesmer-Thread/first

(anndd.. reserved!)

No scepter? although its not a lockdown weapon per se. But it is so good!

Want to add to “Predicting Interrupts”:

After you stun or daze an enemy, you can keep an eye on the stun/daze status icon on the opponent. When that icon disappears, there’s a 0.5-1 second period when the opponent is likely to perform a skill, usually a high-damage or tide-turner or heal[I observe][This also works for knockdown/pull, harder to tell, though]. There’s also the chance that they might just try to dodge away or, if thief, stealth/shadowstep. I tend to use an interrupt at this time and I tend to be able to chain my interrupts from then after so long as I continually hit in this interval.

Always some exceptions, but this is a pattern I find works a lot.

Ty! Added!

@ Sticker: I considered adding scepter, but you use it pretty much the same no matter what build. o_O

What weapon/armor/trinket set up would you recommend for each build? Right now I have solider armor with zerk weapons and trinkets. Is that good for the 4/4/6/0/0 build?

Well there you go you learn something new everyday, I had no idea a condition interrupt even existed (well that’s a lie, I just didn’t know the trait set-up).
You have sparked my interest chaos, time for me to learn the ways of a condition interrupt mesmer!
Great guide!

WitchKing.5317:

Well there you go you learn something new everyday, I had no idea a condition interrupt even existed (well that’s a lie, I just didn’t know the trait set-up).
You have sparked my interest chaos, time for me to learn the ways of a condition interrupt mesmer!
Great guide!

I ran one for quite awhile and I know Stickerhappy currently runs one that’s good in my opinion. Both aren’t 0/4/6/0/4 though.

skcamow.3527:

WitchKing.5317:

Well there you go you learn something new everyday, I had no idea a condition interrupt even existed (well that’s a lie, I just didn’t know the trait set-up).
You have sparked my interest chaos, time for me to learn the ways of a condition interrupt mesmer!
Great guide!

I ran one for quite awhile and I know Stickerhappy currently runs one that’s good in my opinion. Both aren’t 0/4/6/0/4 though.

What do you guys run?

lol,yesterday an asura d/p thief came to kill me I placed iswordsman right before he went to stealth,placed chaos storm on myself,than when he got out of stealth,placed iwarlock switched to sword used the sword daze and he had 10 vurnability stacks and like 4 conditions from chaos strom right after he got out of stealth my iswordsman and iwarlock hit him with 6k dmg each! downed him.
all this battle took mere 5 seconds

@Snakebyte: That works, actually.

I usually use sword/Focus-Staff , but for WvW I think GS may be better as long as you have some form of stealth, either via torch or decoy. In fact, staff/GS or sword/focus GS could work pretty effectively, with focus being a big help against engis and the sudden plague of rangers.

@Sandrox: That reminds me! I need to add an insert about how important phantasm damage is, different combos, and the value of vulnerability.

How exactly does the condition interrupt build look like and which wepons are used for it?

Chaos Archangel.5071:

@Snakebyte: That works, actually.

I usually use sword/Focus-Staff , but for WvW I think GS may be better as long as you have some form of stealth, either via torch or decoy. In fact, staff/GS or sword/focus GS could work pretty effectively, with focus being a big help against engis and the sudden plague of rangers.

Sorry for being a nüb but why do you need stealth with a greatsword? The obvious to you is the arcane to a scrub like myself. Thanks for your help, btw. Mesmer community, best community.

Condition Interrupt would focus on a Staff and maybe a Scepter/Focus or Pistol.

Main idea is similar to Condition Shatter where you will attempt to tank damage while clones and phantasms deal condition stacks.

Interrupts are held to abuse heals and condition cleansing or the like mostly.

at least when i tried it, that’s what worked best for me.

Chaos Archangel.5071:

@Snakebyte: That works, actually.

I usually use sword/Focus-Staff , but for WvW I think GS may be better as long as you have some form of stealth, either via torch or decoy. In fact, staff/GS or sword/focus GS could work pretty effectively, with focus being a big help against engis and the sudden plague of rangers.

@Sandrox: That reminds me! I need to add an insert about how important phantasm damage is, different combos, and the value of vulnerability.

The vulnerability is better than gaining might!
It is so good when you land interupt you get 5might and the enemy get 5 stacks of vulnerability that is such a high boost to your dmg output.

my condi/hybrid interupt runs scepter/pistol greatsword.. with the condi/stun signet.. i like the hard lockdowns more then the dazes most of the time.. chaining pistol stun/signet/greatsword knockback.. is a long stun as your iduelest /clones fire off shots.

here is a link to the build..

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNAraRlknpMtNqxBNcrNCuxYyJaAlL1UpD43BA-TZRFwAAOCAKOFAIeAAp2fwaZAA

the main issues i have with interupt builds. is the traits for interupt.. when im using hard disables putting imob or chill on someone that is stunned is a waste of time.

dont need to turn daze into stun since i just use stun. the only interupt traits i like are halting strike(waste in a hybrid build) and bountiful interuption( which i get the most use out of)

(UPDATE 10/1/14) Added links to the builds, for those curious about the condition lockdown variant I ran here it is:

0/4/6/0/4

• Scepter + Pistol (or Torch) / Staff
• Rabid Amulet – Runes of Grenth (or Undead/Balthazar) – Sigils of Doom(2x)/Energy(Scepter)/Hydromancy(Staff)
• Decoy – Disenchanter (or Null Field) – Mantra of Distraction

This is a rather aggressive condition build that relies on torment and staff clones for damage. It can apply every condition in the game except for fear and interrupts are meant to add cover conditions in addition to their normal function. While it may seem counterproductive to rely on torment and keep a target immobilized, the immob/chill/movement reduction makes it easier for staff clones to melt enemies. In teamfights you provide AoE Chill in addition to clone deaths and set Disenchanter on boon-reliant targets. Being specced into Illusions allows you to use Diversion much more often than most shatter builds.

@Snakebyte: No need to apologize, dude. We all started somewhere and asked similar questions. =]

Unlike Sword (Blurred Frenzy), Staff (Phase Retreat, Chaos Armor/Storm), & Scepter (Counter and offhands like focus), Greatsword offers almost no form of defensive ability besides Illusionary Wave. This tradeoff is because GS does monstrous damage, but in order to defend yourself you have to rely on utilities like Decoy/Blink in addition to attempting to stay at 1200 range. Decoy is the better defense because it gives you a better strategic advantage. In a shatter build, you can even kill glassy opponents right out of stealth with Greatsword and some fancy Mind Wrackin’ alone.

So basically, since GS doesn’t have the defense of sword and staff, you compensate with Decoy or Torch.

zaxon.6819:

my condi/hybrid interupt runs scepter/pistol greatsword.. with the condi/stun signet.. i like the hard lockdowns more then the dazes most of the time.. chaining pistol stun/signet/greatsword knockback.. is a long stun as your iduelest /clones fire off shots.

the main issues i have with interupt builds. is the traits for interupt.. when im using hard disables putting imob or chill on someone that is stunned is a waste of time.

dont need to turn daze into stun since i just use stun. the only interupt traits i like are halting strike(waste in a hybrid build) and bountiful interuption( which i get the most use out of)

Could ya link the build?

Also, this was brought up a bit ago, but I’d like to add a fun troll-y technique which screws with necros a lot if done right: If you run moa, save it for either the near-after beginning of a fight against a Guardian bunker[Locks down their healing], use it on Minion Master Necromancer[Locks down/instakills their minions], or wait for a transformation elite to be used[Locks down/overwrites Lich Form and Tornado].

WitchKing.5317:

skcamow.3527:

WitchKing.5317:

Well there you go you learn something new everyday, I had no idea a condition interrupt even existed (well that’s a lie, I just didn’t know the trait set-up).
You have sparked my interest chaos, time for me to learn the ways of a condition interrupt mesmer!
Great guide!

I ran one for quite awhile and I know Stickerhappy currently runs one that’s good in my opinion. Both aren’t 0/4/6/0/4 though.

What do you guys run?

I ran a 0/4/6/4/0 build called Chaotic Perdition. I shelved it at the time due to the iWarden issues. Now that it’s behaving better and the buff to scepter AA, I’ll probably dust it off to play around with it again. Due to traited focus, the build would likely fare well in the current ranger pew-pew honeymoon.

I’ll let stickerhappy reply on his build if he wants.

One thing’s for sure – every condition interrupt build I’ve seen uses CI.

Chaos Archangel.5071:

(UPDATE 10/1/14) Added links to the builds, for those curious about the condition lockdown variant I ran here it is:

0/4/6/0/4

• Scepter + Pistol (or Torch) / Staff
• Rabid Amulet – Runes of Grenth (or Undead) – Sigils of Doom(2x)/Energy(Scepter)/Hydromancy(Staff)
• Decoy – Disenchanter (or Null Field) – Mantra of Distraction

This is a rather aggressive condition build that relies on torment and staff clones for damage. It can apply every condition in the game except for fear and interrupts are meant to add cover conditions in addition to their normal function. While it may seem counterproductive to rely on torment and keep a target immobilized, the immob/chill/movement reduction makes it easier for staff clones to melt enemies. In teamfights you provide AoE Chill in addition to clone deaths and set Disenchanter on boon-reliant targets. Being specced into Illusions allows you to use Diversion much more often than most shatter builds.

What about travveler runes instead Grenth runes?
Otherwise travelling from one Point to another might take so Long that a fight there is actually over before I arrive.

If travelers works for ya, then by all means you can go right on ahead. I actually think it goes..

Balthazar – Damage
Grenth – CC
Travelers – Mobility
Undead – Toughness

Hey guys, gonna work on videos specific to this guide since I’ll have some time to play this week. Had a quick question:

What classes/builds do you find the hardest to face as a Lockdown Mesmer?

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Hey guys, gonna work on videos specific to this guide since I’ll have some time to play this week. Had a quick question:

What classes/builds do you find the hardest to face as a Lockdown Mesmer?

Warriors with that Balanced Stance, or numerous other things with stability. I can deal with it, eventually, but it’s annoying. Simply put, please teach us peasants how to best boon strip.

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Hey guys, gonna work on videos specific to this guide since I’ll have some time to play this week. Had a quick question:

What classes/builds do you find the hardest to face as a Lockdown Mesmer?

S/D thiefs – not much you can interrupt, and even if you manage to pin them down, they´ll most likely have Withdraw, Shadow Step, Refuge or Infiltrator´s Return ready to safe them. Hard fights, but nevertheless a lot of fun.

We need more threads to be stickied.

Meditation guards are a tough matchup because they have a lot of blocks and blinds. Not to mention meditations are instant cast and their heal can’t be interrupted. Their elite skill is also safe to use. And to top it all off, they have good cleaving potential and can wipe out clones/phantasms easily.

Engineers and Elementalists are my bane, but that may be singular for me. I’d say rangers, but the power rangers are actually really easy to kill — even without landing interrupts using 4/4/6. So, spirit rangers can be troublesome.

I’ll also mention Mesmers, but you know my trouble with that. Lately I’ve been experimenting with the classic CI build in sPvP, but choosing Rampager’s over Berserker’s. I don’t land interrupts perfectly, so I like the moderate condition damage I deal while I bait people out with the staff.

MailMail.6534:

We need more threads to be stickied.

Perhaps this thread could be added to Fay’s list that is already stickied?

I have trouble with Thieves as well, what is the rule of thumb when they stealth for what seems like an eon? Blink away and pray?

If thieves are in stealth, you can use chaos storm, a well timed phase retreat, iRiposte or blurred frenzy. When using focus you can cast curtain and walk through it backwards and forwards to mitigate backstab (and pull stealthed opponent before the curtain vanish). This may not be as useful against P/D though, in that case you should pull the curtain when he uses sneak attack. You should be able to interrupt his sneak attack and retaliate if you have CI.

Chaos Archangel.5071:

TYPES OF LOCKDOWN MESMER

Confounding Suggestion (6/4/4/0/0) : Shares the same role as CI, but instead of focusing on interrupts, Confounding Suggestions encourages chaining dazes/stuns one after another to keep the opponent shut down.

Although it says 6/4/4/0/0, the linked build is actually a 6/6/0/2/0

@trooper Good catch, ty! Will fix.

About Thieves
In the meantime while the videos are being made, I’ll try to use an older video versus a D/P Thief to explain my points. Check out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgLHctH56gc&list=UUprB53MrZxxIzQE6VIOn6Yg (and versus a S/D thief here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjmI5R7nHks&list=UUprB53MrZxxIzQE6VIOn6Yg&index=10)

• Playing Defensively Against a Thief I’m actually not looking for interrupts. I focus more on saving my mantra charges and CC to protect myself from the Thieves attack or to control them even while stealthed.

• Timing Evades A thief’s stealth usually lasts only 3 seconds unless they’re chaining stealth, either way it’s generally good to try to count to 2 before dodging/blurred frenzy/temporal curtain/distortion.

• Using your illusions Since it’s hard to shatter on a stealthed opponent, it’s often better to make sure you stay CLOSE to your illusions to lead the thief into your shatters. Also, standing nearly inside of your illusions help defend against backstabs.

DPS Guardians There’s one trick to beating a DPS Guard: Their Greatsword is obscenely easy to interrupt (which is a general rule for all greatswords it seems). Whatever their offhand weapon is doesn’t matter, save your interrupts for the Greatsword.

• Spin to .. Fail The core of a Guardian’s burst usually ends up being teleport >> Whirling Wrath. It does high damage and hurts pretty bad, but like previously mentioned, that whirl is the easiest thing in the world to stop.

• Using your range It’s better to fight a Guardian at range, since their ranged options are pretty terrible. Also, it makes them very predictable as there are few threatening options a DPS Guardian has, meaning that if they still have the GS out, they’ll either leap or try to pull you. If they swap weapons, use that as an opportunity to close distance and pressure them.

• Strip when you burst Try not to force boonstrips when you don’t need to. If you’re on the defensive, you may as well save your shatters. When going in for offense, try to strip with Cry of Frustration before hitting with Mind Wrack. A 3-clone Cry tends to be more useful if that’s three boons you’re stripping, even if it only leads to a 2-clone Mind Wrack.(Dat Retaliation doe) Be careful with your blurred frenzy

There’s also the option of Condi-rupt with Perplexity. I’ll admit it’s not as brutal as it was, back when Perplexity was in it’s pre-nerf state, but with the extra Confusion procs/duration + Torment, you then enforce a Catch-22 situation on the target.

• Try something “cute,” eat Rupt and/or Confu.
• Try to run, Torment’s ticking harder on yer behind.
  
  Of course, then your speed’s garbage. But you can’t have everything.

Note:

• As for specs, my own setup has always been 0/4/6/0/4 Staff/ScepFocus. Focus is just too darned useful for Interrupt trolling. Running Traveler so as to catch escaping prey.

Chaos Archangel.5071:

• Playing Defensively Against a Thief I’m actually not looking for interrupts. I focus more on saving my mantra charges and CC to protect myself from the Thieves attack or to control them even while stealthed.

• Using your illusions Since it’s hard to shatter on a stealthed opponent, it’s often better to make sure you stay CLOSE to your illusions to lead the thief into your shatters. Also, standing nearly inside of your illusions help defend against backstabs.

Interesting, I prefer to do the opposite most of the time. :P Playing agressivly forces the thief to use his cooldowns, so I may land an interrupt when he´s got nothing left. This could of course be build-specific, since mantra lockdown is strongest at the beginning of a fight.

Regarding your second point, I try to have as few illusions out as possible when fighting x/d thiefs to avoid easy targets for Cloak´n´Dagger. If I have phantasms out, I separate enough that they won´t get hit by cleaving attacks/sigil procs on me. The thief could kill the phantasms or damage me, but not both with the same attack.

What do you think, bad habits or just another approach that could work under the right circumstances? ^^

Schattenlied.4873:

Interesting, I prefer to do the opposite most of the time. :P Playing agressivly forces the thief to use his cooldowns, so I may land an interrupt when he´s got nothing left. This could of course be build-specific, since mantra lockdown is strongest at the beginning of a fight.

Regarding your second point, I try to have as few illusions out as possible when fighting x/d thiefs to avoid easy targets for Cloak´n´Dagger. If I have phantasms out, I separate enough that they won´t get hit by cleaving attacks/sigil procs on me. The thief could kill the phantasms or damage me, but not both with the same attack.

What do you think, bad habits or just another approach that could work under the right circumstances? ^^

It’s hard to say. Playing aggressively can work, depending on the type of opponent, but I’ve always found it better to save skills specifically for when they stealth (C-storm, chaos armor, dodges, illusionary wave, prestige, blurred frenzy, ect. depending on the weaponset)

Since their stealth duration is so predictable, it feels easier to force them onto the defensive by attacking riight as their stealth is about to expire.

As for illusions being out, I do think it’s better to have them than not to have them. Clutch distortions and heavy mind-wrack shatters can instantly turn the tide against a glassy thief. Staying close to them in a cluster, in my opinion, is even better (granted this is more for the assumption you have clones out rather than phantasms) If I’m not mistaken CnD doesn’t cleave, so they still have to choose either you or your illusions

Any tips on how to really make GS really meld with a CI build? I tried playing around with the build below for a little bit. Thinking maybe I’ll try double-ranged shatter “style” with CI for control. It was fun, but I’m sure I could be doing something else with that. I found that this one could handle engineers pretty well.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQJAWRlknpGtFqxMNcrNytxY6Ne4CU20UlMggB-TZxFwAJeAAo2fAwRAAxlAQaZAA

I had a thought, and wonder if this might work: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNAW8al0npGttqxUNUrNyqxcqlQ9VrNWpHJ7AA-TZBCwAAOIAYuAAiLDc5JAoc/BA

Basically a lockdown build not meant to win 1v1s, but rather influence team fights with mass-lockdowns, such as Chaos Storm, Imbued Diversion, Magic Bullet, Mantra of Distraction, and Dazzling Glamours. Something like pushing out these at a steady pace from outside of the skirmish to wither the enemy team down. Unsure about whether to use scepter or sword. Scepter allows creating clones from a safe distance away, but sword has that AoE immob. Well, any opinion on this style of lockdown as opposed to the more up-front style?

I’ve been running with a variant of the “Chillruption” build posted here some time ago by someone, and I make heavy use of scepter+torch, mainly Confusion and Torment.
It’s worth mentioning that these two conditions act as a sort of “soft” lockdown, punishing your opponents for kiting or using skills(complimented by Torch5’s Retal), or forcing them to remain static for some time until they can deal with those conditions, all the while allowing your other lockdown skills time to go off cooldown.

I’m going to bump this for the staff lulz. Mage Strike crit for over 9,000 today. It also happened right after a 2.7k halting strike crit. Long live lockdown.

Nice one! Under certain conditions (ha! ^^) staff works really well:
1. CI interrupt
2. double iWarlock attacking at the same time
3. dead thief

I still prefer other weapons for power lockdown, but staff definitly has some advantages in a dueling scenario.

Hah! I was using Aeoldyn’s 4/4/6 build. But, like you, was using GS/Staff this time around. I think the might from GS-2 is really noticeable. Having an iWarlock and an iZerker is great for burst. And GS-3 helps with some boon removal.

Tealots.6095:

Any tips on how to really make GS really meld with a CI build? I tried playing around with the build below for a little bit. Thinking maybe I’ll try double-ranged shatter “style” with CI for control. It was fun, but I’m sure I could be doing something else with that. I found that this one could handle engineers pretty well.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQJAWRlknpGtFqxMNcrNytxY6Ne4CU20UlMggB-TZxFwAJeAAo2fAwRAAxlAQaZAA

The traits/utilities look good (though I’d recommend Phantasmal Fury) but I’m not certain about the sigils. I feel double-ranged really meshes well with a Fire/Air combo -even at the expense of energy- and would probably go Fire/Air on GS and Hydro/Energy on staff. Other than that I was tempted to try something very similar to this last night, unfortunately I didn’t have the chance to hop on. =/

Dondagora.9645:

I had a thought, and wonder if this might work: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNAW8al0npGttqxUNUrNyqxcqlQ9VrNWpHJ7AA-TZBCwAAOIAYuAAiLDc5JAoc/BA

Basically a lockdown build not meant to win 1v1s, but rather influence team fights with mass-lockdowns, such as Chaos Storm, Imbued Diversion, Magic Bullet, Mantra of Distraction, and Dazzling Glamours. Something like pushing out these at a steady pace from outside of the skirmish to wither the enemy team down. Unsure about whether to use scepter or sword. Scepter allows creating clones from a safe distance away, but sword has that AoE immob. Well, any opinion on this style of lockdown as opposed to the more up-front style?

This is rather tricky. I really feel imbued can work in a teamfight lockdown build but I have rarely experimented with it (though skcamow has). I know you need imbued, and DE, but I’m wondering if you’re better off dropping 20 in Chaos or Domination, both of which can give you rewards for interrupts/lockdown. Domination would allow your AoE Diversions to stack Vuln and strip boons, the latter which is very valuable for a lockdown Mes and one of the key reasons for bringing one.

Chaos, however, gives you Bleed/Vuln/Weakness-on-clone-death and rewards you with boons per interrupt. I think Domination is more useful team-wise, but for personal damage/survivability Chaos may be better. Interesting concept nonetheless, let me know how it goes if you explore it further. (In my experience, seems like the type of build that will fill terrible until you grow into it. =P Many lockdown builds are.)

Phoenix.5047:

I’ve been running with a variant of the “Chillruption” build posted here some time ago by someone, and I make heavy use of scepter+torch, mainly Confusion and Torment.
It’s worth mentioning that these two conditions act as a sort of “soft” lockdown, punishing your opponents for kiting or using skills(complimented by Torch5’s Retal), or forcing them to remain static for some time until they can deal with those conditions, all the while allowing your other lockdown skills time to go off cooldown.

Which reminds me, we need more Chillruption vids, skcamow!

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Tealots.6095:

Any tips on how to really make GS really meld with a CI build? I tried playing around with the build below for a little bit. Thinking maybe I’ll try double-ranged shatter “style” with CI for control. It was fun, but I’m sure I could be doing something else with that. I found that this one could handle engineers pretty well.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQJAWRlknpGtFqxMNcrNytxY6Ne4CU20UlMggB-TZxFwAJeAAo2fAwRAAxlAQaZAA

The traits/utilities look good (though I’d recommend Phantasmal Fury) but I’m not certain about the sigils. I feel double-ranged really meshes well with a Fire/Air combo -even at the expense of energy- and would probably go Fire/Air on GS and Hydro/Energy on staff. Other than that I was tempted to try something very similar to this last night, unfortunately I didn’t have the chance to hop on. =/

I actually haven’t seen you on in weeks.

I was surprised at myself for not taking far-reaching manipulations, which may actually mesh nicely with a 1,200-range Arcane Thievery. I think my idea was to reduce the recharge on MoD because 30 seconds is ridiculous and I’d have more opportunity to recharge it being a range-based fighter.

My main problem with that build that I linked is that the damage isn’t that great. I considered going 4/0/6/0/4. Sacrifice DE and take Halting Strike and Shattered Concentration. Utility-wise I would then definitely use iDisenchanter and either Mirror Images or Decoy for the extra clones. I need to pick a different rune set. And it’s hard creating any kind of damage spike out of an interrupt without Halting Strike. I could switch to a rampager amulet/Grenth rune combo and try a little hybrid I suppose, but that just doesn’t feel clean.

What were you going to try the other night?