Guild Wars 2

I’ve been starting to beat some good x/d eles 1v1 who thought they could take nodes from me with this lately. Getting better with it.

I’ve been finding I don’t need the signet though. Even if the phantasms die.. the recast is ~12 seconds at most. If they die I usually have at least 1 if not 2 off cooldown ready to come out. I’ve been running with decoy (brilliant for getting both phantasms out in stealth or to delay a fight… if you start out with mass invis and bring out the phants, you can decoy during the fight. Very easy 1v1s). I often run with decoy, null field and arcane thievery now. With so many guardians and engis around, thievery is insane. I’ve also used it to steal whirlwind ele stability and return caltrop thief bleeds… very interesting. Only if there are multiple melee (thieves, warriors) on the other team do I swap thievery for blink and use it as a lifesaver.

Who else has been experimenting with weapons?
I’m still using sword/sword + sword/pistol. With 6 seconds on sword #3 and 7 seconds on sword #2 I can’t imagine anything else being more useful whether for invul defense or 3->2 offense. Both pistol and off-hand sword are amazing too (riposte omg, I use this for the daze ALL the time.. and magic bullet) so I don’t know if I’d be okay losing either of them.

My favorite part of this build though, and the reason I can’t go back to shatter… is that when you down an enemy, chances are you have 2-3 illusions up who just did the killing for you. They are not needed anymore since the target is down. Hit F4 and guarantee the stomp. Shatter builds can’t do this as they usually need the illusions for bursting. 2 phantasms and sword 3->2 is usually enough to burst anyone into either into the ground or running away very quickly with all their defensive cooldowns firing.

@fadeaway: On the subject of someone downed, I actually view this build’s advantage entirely differently. In a shatter build, you’ll have illusionary persona and the ability to push out lots of illusions quickly in order to use distortion to stomp someone. In this build, you can ignore them, and they’ll die in the next 15 seconds due to your phantasms chewing on them. Also, if you get downed, you’ll be guaranteed to win any downed fight when they still have 3 high damage phantasms eating them.

Have you experimented with healing mantras in the Inspiration line? 20% phantasm hp, 20% glamour cooldown, remove 1 condition on heal and heal on mantra are all not amazing, but it heals for 2600 and can be spammed if you pair it with the direct damage mantra – mantra of pain. The mantra itself is instant and you don’t have to be facing the target, so it’s a nice handy fire and forget heal + DD while you’re waiting for the phantasms to finish the job. It can also proc air/fire sigils. It also makes our mantra heal the top dog for heals, and makes things like centaur runes be perma swiftness.

We have too many amazing utilities..

Just to note that if you’re not careful, a fight with a shatter mesmer can end really fast. You need to get the upper hand as soon as they get within range + avoid their initial burst. Many shatter mesmers will stealth initially so you can’t summon and it also makes it easy for them to pull off their combo.

Normally I summon the swordsman first, but with shatter mesmers I open with magic bullet. That first crucial interruption gives me the time to quickly do a summon and if the mesmer used decoy to break stun, I have blurred frenzy available to me if I suddenly get immobilized from nowhere.

It can get bad in really tight closed spaces like fighting in front of the treb because of the AoE that also kills your illusions.

Overall this matchup is all about who gets the jump first.

One other thing. The pace of this fight is so fast that tabbing to get the correct mesmer is just too slow. You have get use your mouse and target him before he stealths again. Getting your phants out quickly is top priority and if you’re tabbing it’ll be way too slow.

There were no negative changes to this build from the patch. Using the mantra heal may now be a better choice in more situations, and when the situation demands, using the condition removal mantra will also be more effective. I’ll need to do some testing to determine the normally optimal healing skill now, but ether feast remains a great choice.

Pyroatheist.9031:

There were no negative changes to this build from the patch. Using the mantra heal may now be a better choice in more situations, and when the situation demands, using the condition removal mantra will also be more effective. I’ll need to do some testing to determine the normally optimal healing skill now, but ether feast remains a great choice.

try this build a couple day. and start using heal mantra with trait mantra heal alies. its better choise becouse cast mantra give u 2.7+k hp and use just heal give me 2.7×2hp
so we got 8k+heal

btw still against s/d thief with daze hard to duel. 50/50 i can say

On this picture stats of my mesmer in cPvP and PvE/WwW (with food/oil, but without stucks).

drongas.4189:

Pyroatheist.9031:

There were no negative changes to this build from the patch. Using the mantra heal may now be a better choice in more situations, and when the situation demands, using the condition removal mantra will also be more effective. I’ll need to do some testing to determine the normally optimal healing skill now, but ether feast remains a great choice.

try this build a couple day. and start using heal mantra with trait mantra heal alies. its better choise becouse cast mantra give u 2.7+k hp and use just heal give me 2.7×2hp
so we got 8k+heal

btw still against s/d thief with daze hard to duel. 50/50 i can say

I’ve tried using mantra heals, but to get it, you have to untrait either mender’s purity or the phantasm hp. Mender’s purity is necessary for sure, and as it turns out, without the phantasm hp trait, they die so fast you wont even have anything to heal with the mantra.

It’s definitely an interesting thought, but ends up being far less effective in reality.

Pyroatheist.9031:

drongas.4189:

Pyroatheist.9031:

There were no negative changes to this build from the patch. Using the mantra heal may now be a better choice in more situations, and when the situation demands, using the condition removal mantra will also be more effective. I’ll need to do some testing to determine the normally optimal healing skill now, but ether feast remains a great choice.

try this build a couple day. and start using heal mantra with trait mantra heal alies. its better choise becouse cast mantra give u 2.7+k hp and use just heal give me 2.7×2hp
so we got 8k+heal

btw still against s/d thief with daze hard to duel. 50/50 i can say

I’ve tried using mantra heals, but to get it, you have to untrait either mender’s purity or the phantasm hp. Mender’s purity is necessary for sure, and as it turns out, without the phantasm hp trait, they die so fast you wont even have anything to heal with the mantra.

It’s definitely an interesting thought, but ends up being far less effective in reality.

well explain then. i use signet for phatasm hp 200% and if trait on hp its 20%. so 20% from 3k pahntasmal hp or 3k+200% and then 20%? becouse if from just normal 3k its about 600hp. its 2 burning tick or just 1 auto atack.
but if 3k+200%=9k hp+20% its 1800. so then ofc trait is good

sry rly bad eng

drongas.4189:

Pyroatheist.9031:

drongas.4189:

Pyroatheist.9031:

There were no negative changes to this build from the patch. Using the mantra heal may now be a better choice in more situations, and when the situation demands, using the condition removal mantra will also be more effective. I’ll need to do some testing to determine the normally optimal healing skill now, but ether feast remains a great choice.

try this build a couple day. and start using heal mantra with trait mantra heal alies. its better choise becouse cast mantra give u 2.7+k hp and use just heal give me 2.7×2hp
so we got 8k+heal

btw still against s/d thief with daze hard to duel. 50/50 i can say

I’ve tried using mantra heals, but to get it, you have to untrait either mender’s purity or the phantasm hp. Mender’s purity is necessary for sure, and as it turns out, without the phantasm hp trait, they die so fast you wont even have anything to heal with the mantra.

It’s definitely an interesting thought, but ends up being far less effective in reality.

well explain then. i use signet for phatasm hp 200% and if trait on hp its 20%. so 20% from 3k pahntasmal hp or 3k+200% and then 20%? becouse if from just normal 3k its about 600hp. its 2 burning tick or just 1 auto atack.
but if 3k+200%=9k hp+20% its 1800. so then ofc trait is good

sry rly bad eng

Firstly, your math is faulty. If a phantasm has 3k base hp, with the 200% signet, it will have 6k hp, increased by a factor of 2. Secondly, the signet takes up to 10(12?) seconds to actually kick in. The 20% trait is there immediately.

Additionally, to even heal the phantasms, you have to be very close to them. This isn’t always optimal or possible, and so puts restrictions on how you move and play, which is a bad thing.

kk got it. well i go test it another couple days, and write self verdict here after

How do you feel about the necessity of signet of illusions?

I’m starting to doubt it’s potency in spvp because of it’s variables (the time it takes for the actual health boost to occur) To me sometimes it could seem like I’m wasting a utility slot because the health boost would take too long to activate, thus the phantasm is crazy squishy…in a high-tier environment, I’m not sure if the gamble is worth it…I noticed the health boost almost ALWAYS comes in at least 4-10s after the phantasm spawns, typcially a few secs after its first burst.

Also, Moa seems to be extremely OP after this patch…but mass invis is a nice defense mechanism on a 50% faster cd…so it could be used more consistently. From playing a similar build, stealth is such a great defense mechanism for mesmers, so I don’t know if I should stick to moa or go mass invis.

It’s a shame the torch phantasm is utterly useless…I love torch #4!

Your thoughts?

Amaterasu.6280:

How do you feel about the necessity of signet of illusions?

I’m starting to doubt it’s potency in spvp because of it’s variables (the time it takes for the actual health boost to occur) To me sometimes it could seem like I’m wasting a utility slot because the health boost would take too long to activate, thus the phantasm is crazy squishy…in a high-tier environment, I’m not sure if the gamble is worth it…I noticed the health boost almost ALWAYS comes in at least 4-10s after the phantasm spawns, typcially a few secs after its first burst.

Also, Moa seems to be extremely OP after this patch…but mass invis is a nice defense mechanism on a 50% faster cd…so it could be used more consistently. From playing a similar build, stealth is such a great defense mechanism for mesmers, so I don’t know if I should stick to moa or go mass invis.

It’s a shame the torch phantasm is utterly useless…I love torch #4!

Your thoughts?

I’ll use moa if I’m feeling particularly cruel, but I always end up feeling unclean afterwards…

Signet of illusions I will swap around depending on the situation. I primarily use this build for duels, not for bigger spvp situations, so I’ll swap it out for daze mantra, or condie removal mantra, or feedback, depending on what I’m dueling.

i use moa, lockdown enemy for 10 sec to good, now u can catch enemy before they run away, not like early when they spam #5 skill

Pyroatheist.9031:

There are a few reasons I opted for scepter/sword instead of greatsword. First, the sword phantasm is vastly superior to the greatsword phantasm, both in damage and reliability. Additionally, the greatsword has almost nothing in the way of defensive/evasive utility. It is all offense, which is fine, but doesn’t fit this build. You don’t do offense yourself, you let the phantasms take care of that, and your focus is on defense.

wrong, the knock back skill is invalubale when facing multiple enemies, distance = damage

RedCobra.7693:

Pyroatheist.9031:

There are a few reasons I opted for scepter/sword instead of greatsword. First, the sword phantasm is vastly superior to the greatsword phantasm, both in damage and reliability. Additionally, the greatsword has almost nothing in the way of defensive/evasive utility. It is all offense, which is fine, but doesn’t fit this build. You don’t do offense yourself, you let the phantasms take care of that, and your focus is on defense.

wrong, the knock back skill is invalubale when facing multiple enemies, distance = damage

not my quote but i can answer. first: this build only for 1 vs 1. not vs many
second: 2 block with sceptr/sword=3k-6k insta dmg
gs5 just knock for 2 sec and safe enemy burst

drongas.4189:

RedCobra.7693:

Pyroatheist.9031:

There are a few reasons I opted for scepter/sword instead of greatsword. First, the sword phantasm is vastly superior to the greatsword phantasm, both in damage and reliability. Additionally, the greatsword has almost nothing in the way of defensive/evasive utility. It is all offense, which is fine, but doesn’t fit this build. You don’t do offense yourself, you let the phantasms take care of that, and your focus is on defense.

wrong, the knock back skill is invalubale when facing multiple enemies, distance = damage

not my quote but i can answer. first: this build only for 1 vs 1. not vs many
second: 2 block with sceptr/sword=3k-6k insta dmg
gs5 just knock for 2 sec and safe enemy burst

true true in that case then if its just one v one could i reccomend time warp instead of moa the ability to root to that circle do huge damage and then stomp fast is amazing in a 1v1 situation this is a warrior technique but works really well, i do admit you could counter this proposal with the argument that its cool down is extremely long however you stated its for 1v1 and this has allowed me in the past to down and stomp someone in under 5 secs, its beautiful when executed correctly.

ok after some test i can say, heal mantra not better in almost all fight, except when u under decoy or disortion. 2.75 sec still to long against thief/engi (elite) burst.
still hard against daze S/D thief. and against D/P thieves who spam blind. hard summon phantasm

this build clip
video not about "OMG!!! im fakin epic !!!!!!oneleven!!!
its about how hard be a mesmer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETYd7ntcQY0

Pyro,

Why do you bother with Air sigils when your phantasms can’t activate them? Wouldn’kitten better to just take force/accuracy sigils so thakitten ’s a permanent bonus?

Amaterasu.6280:

Pyro,

Why do you bother with Air sigils when your phantasms can’t activate them? Wouldn’t it better to just take force/accuracy sigils so that it’s a permanent bonus?

I use sigils of air just for the odd damage proc. I don’t believe force/accurate sigils work on phantasms either, so I doesn’t matter much either way.

I like roaming wvw this build from time to time. That’s not the best idea since it can be tough to get a 1v1. Last night I went out with it and got into a fight w/a thief that refuged while I had 3 phantasms out. I just stood still thinking no way this guy is dumb enough to come out of stealth. Sure enough, out he pops w/basilisk venom which I knew would happen. I blinked away, and when I turned around he was already downed and my phantasms were eating him alive in the downed state. I just sat and watched. It almost felt cruel.

Here comes the nerf hammer.

Dasboba.1652:

I like roaming wvw this build from time to time. That’s not the best idea since it can be tough to get a 1v1. Last night I went out with it and got into a fight w/a thief that refuged while I had 3 phantasms out. I just stood still thinking no way this guy is dumb enough to come out of stealth. Sure enough, out he pops w/basilisk venom which I knew would happen. I blinked away, and when I turned around he was already downed and my phantasms were eating him alive in the downed state. I just sat and watched. It almost felt cruel.

Or he could have just come out and dodged…just gotta learn the match up =/

he cant dodge all time. phantasm atack rate is 5.5 sec and 7 sec. iduelist atack and under stealh+ its long time atack so after dodge u still get dmg. and going away from hide 0.01 sec. u still gedt 12-15k dmg if 3 phantasmas are up (25k-30k in 5.5-7 sec 37k-45k in 11-14 sec)

This phantasm build is awesome and I use it to have a 14-3 win/lose in spvp recently. Here are some questions. First is I find the 20% reduction of sword skill only works for sword #2, from 10 s to 8 s. But when we change weapon, we have 10 s cooldown. After using sword #2, we change weapon. And after 10 s we change back and sword #2 just finishes the cool down. So I prefer dodge/illusion here. Since more illusion means more regeneration possibility and confusing. For the runes I use runes of eagle since I prefer high crit chance. I have 57% of crit chance without fury. But I have no idea on what crit chance is enough for this build. Have you ever try the runes of eagle? With this build, only using one time of sword 2 and 2 blocks will almost finish a glass cannon class.

Yuchen.5980:

This phantasm build is awesome and I use it to have a 14-3 win/lose in spvp recently. Here are some questions. First is I find the 20% reduction of sword skill only works for sword #2, from 10 s to 8 s. But when we change weapon, we have 10 s cooldown. After using sword #2, we change weapon. And after 10 s we change back and sword #2 just finishes the cool down. So I prefer dodge/illusion here. Since more illusion means more regeneration possibility and confusing. For the runes I use runes of eagle since I prefer high crit chance. I have 57% of crit chance without fury. But I have no idea on what crit chance is enough for this build. Have you ever try the runes of eagle? With this build, only using one time of sword 2 and 2 blocks will almost finish a glass cannon class.

I’ve gotten too used to near perma swiftness with runes of the centaur. Can’t see myself going back now

Yuchen.5980:

This phantasm build is awesome and I use it to have a 14-3 win/lose in spvp recently. Here are some questions. First is I find the 20% reduction of sword skill only works for sword #2, from 10 s to 8 s. But when we change weapon, we have 10 s cooldown. After using sword #2, we change weapon. And after 10 s we change back and sword #2 just finishes the cool down. So I prefer dodge/illusion here. Since more illusion means more regeneration possibility and confusing. For the runes I use runes of eagle since I prefer high crit chance. I have 57% of crit chance without fury. But I have no idea on what crit chance is enough for this build. Have you ever try the runes of eagle? With this build, only using one time of sword 2 and 2 blocks will almost finish a glass cannon class.

The sword trait affects cooldown on sword 2, 3, 4, and 5. It is not always reflected in the tooltip, but it DOES take effect.

Looks like the latest patch makes this build in need of changes. We can no longer get Illusionist’s celerity so easily now. Meaning something has to be traded off. Thoughts anyone?

bhagwad.4281:

Looks like the latest patch makes this build in need of changes. We can no longer get Illusionist’s celerity so easily now. Meaning something has to be traded off. Thoughts anyone?

My thoughts: RIP Phantasm builds :P

Edit: But I’ll be experimenting anway, no matter how hopeless it looks.

Yeah, go shatter.

if i understand, we got phantom dmg increase. so still need test or dps same or less

or mb i frong, hit point is health? then i think wrong

drongas.4189:

if i understand, we got phantom dmg increase. so still need test or dps same or less

Did we read the same patch notes? Where do you see a phantasm damage increase?

Zumi.6384:

drongas.4189:

if i understand, we got phantom dmg increase. so still need test or dps same or less

Did we read the same patch notes? Where do you see a phantasm damage increase?

sry bad eng, read hit and think about auto, sry for disturbing

This build is not significantly affected by this patch. The 5 points in illusions could probably get moved to domination or something. This build will still be just as overpowered as before because Anet nerfed the wrong thing to fix it.

drongas.4189:

Zumi.6384:

drongas.4189:

if i understand, we got phantom dmg increase. so still need test or dps same or less

Did we read the same patch notes? Where do you see a phantasm damage increase?

sry bad eng, read hit and think about auto, sry for disturbing

Not a problem at all, I just wanted to make sure I didn’t miss something

@Pyro I think it’ll still be very effective, just not kitten. The biggest hit to this build was the nerf to phantasm retaliation in my opinion. IC hurts, but doesn’t destroy it.

Plus, you’ll now have torment on the scepter block. I roamed with a modified version of this build in wvw with sw/p-gs. This actually makes me want to pick up a scepter and try your version.

ok i just have some duels now, (nothing special, ele ranger and warrior) hard to get used to. still fingers have self life spam scpt2 and sword4. now both 12 sec. early was 9 and 11 if i remember. and swap wep and try spam pistol4 after sword its 4 sec free spam and nothing happens. and ofc decoy 40 now epic.
but if u not against gc thief u still can play well

@Pyroatheist.9031

for some reason i want to test my joke build against your op phantasm build

prismatic understanding got a major buff

build nerfed hard as of today

I am never switching my Mesmer from phantasms ever again. This is so trolly it’s making my Thief jealous. Tired of losing duels? Roll Mesmer and get this build because it’s too good to be true.

Hi

I tried this build yesterday and I must say it is awesome, the only trouble I had was agaisnt a necromancer I couldn’t remove all the conditions and still the necromancer was always stacking more conditions on me.

Can anyone give me some tips about what to do agaisnt necromancers?

Kingdarkshadow.3175:

Hi

I tried this build yesterday and I must say it is awesome, the only trouble I had was agaisnt a necromancer I couldn’t remove all the conditions and still the necromancer was always stacking more conditions on me.

Can anyone give me some tips about what to do agaisnt necromancers?

stay more than 1200? sumon 2 phant and blink. dunno mb help

i found hard opponent, another phantasm mesmer with gs – sw/p and daze mantra + mirror of anguish. duno exactly trait spec but guess its 20/30/20/0/0. i just most of time sit in stun/daze/knock. 2 break stun not help a lot

Kingdarkshadow.3175:

Hi

I tried this build yesterday and I must say it is awesome, the only trouble I had was agaisnt a necromancer I couldn’t remove all the conditions and still the necromancer was always stacking more conditions on me.

Can anyone give me some tips about what to do agaisnt necromancers?

Against a necromancer, take heal mantra and condition removal mantra. Necromancer a don’t have good interrupts, so you can charge these without worry, and the two of them should keep the conditions clear without too much difficulty. You could also take the pDisenchanter instead of the mantra.

wookie.8934:

I’ve been using this exact build for a while now with only a few changes. Looks like the cat’s out of the bag now. :\

Only difference is I use a GS + Sword/Pistol with two sigils of fire and a sigil of accuracy.

Other than that. Exactly the same one I’ve been using for weeks.

If you’re looking for some random hotjoin footage of how to play it: http://www.twitch.tv/dohliath/b/380767723 (reminder: I use greatsword and in this video two sigils of energy). At 44:20 I duel another mesmer a few times.

If you want to see damage potential in WvW: http://www.twitch.tv/dohliath/b/383993243 (Skip to 1:28:40 – decent battle between a few friends on some enemies who enter the camp — watch the crits).

@Pyro Thanks for the post, as a new Mesmer you are very easy to follow (in all your builds and comments)
@wookie I saw the 1st video, very nice thanks, the 2nd wouldn’t play. Can you PM me a link of your build (gear, runes, sigils etc), I like the phantasms but enjoy getting into the offense.

Hi!
I’ve just made a Mesmer and I’m wondering… Is this build still effective?

Tnx!

Yes, though not as effective. The Signet only grants 50% health to illusions, not 200%, now. So the damage is still great, although phantasms can die much more quickly if focused.

WingedDestinyX.1423:

Hi!
I’ve just made a Mesmer and I’m wondering… Is this build still effective?

Tnx!

Yes, this build is still effective. Since the patches, the proper trait setup has changed slightly, and I’ve been a bit lax at updating the guide. The traits should be 10/30/0/30/0. In inspiration, I’ll take phantasm hp, mender’s purity, and then sometimes restorative mantras, sometimes compounding celerity, it depends on what I’m fighting.

As was mentioned, the signet did get a nerf. However, base phantasm hp got buffed and the signet was fixed to apply its buff immediately instead of after 10 seconds, so the phantasm hp was buffed in general.

I gave this build a try not realizing it was 4 months old >< . I’m looking to transition to a phantasm build from my previous shatter build.

I saw the video wookie posted and it got me going. Playing around with this build, I ended up with the following:

20 – skill 3, 10
25 – skill 2, 9
0
25 – skill 4, 5
0

I use GS and SW/Pistol with mainly berzerker gear. I generally open with GS2, 3, izerker – switch to sw/p and use magic bullet, summon iduelist, feedback, sword2, switch places and use blade flurry, rinse ’n repeat.

Seems pretty effective so far (PVE and PVP). I like the idea of having phantasms up at all times chewing away at any opponent as I juke in and out when needed for extra burst.

Any suggestions based on this information? I love this play style and strive to get really good at it!

Thanks!

I gave this build a try not realizing it was 4 months old >< . I’m looking to transition to a phantasm build from my previous shatter build.

I saw the video wookie posted and it got me going. Playing around with this build, I ended up with the following:

20 – skill 3, 10
25 – skill 2, 9
0
25 – skill 4, 5
0

I use GS and SW/Pistol with mainly berzerker gear. I generally open with GS2, 3, izerker – switch to sw/p and use magic bullet, summon iduelist, feedback, sword2, switch places and use blade flurry, rinse ’n repeat.

Seems pretty effective so far (PVE and PVP). I like the idea of having phantasms up at all times chewing away at any opponent as I juke in and out when needed for extra burst.

Any suggestions based on this information? I love this play style and strive to get really good at it!

Thanks!