Guild Wars 2

avanopstall.3726:

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!

That’s a reasonable phantasm build, but very different from mine. The greatsword is a highly offensive weapon, but it suffers from a lack of defense.

Using feedback for the duelist hits is a waste of feedback. This isn’t a condition damage build, don’t waste your time stacking confusion.

The build you have there will work fine in pve. My build here is not designed for pve of any type, it lacks aoe and utility for it. Your build will also work ok in pvp, but you will have significantly lower defense along with potentially lower damage, as swordsmen will outdamage zerkers.

@Pyroatheist, have yoy tetsed veil as a utility for the setup? With the change to a woring light field it might be effective with iDuelist for this build? I use it in the condition build I use in sPvP. As your phantasm attack dont debuff your stealth a veil + sumon iDuelist is a rather effetcive combo to stay undetected and preasure at same time.

/Osicat

@Osicat, Does the Remove Condition finisher work on you, or your phantasm whose using the projectile?

I also use a similar Phantasm Build. 15/30/0/25/0 with 15 in domination to stack vuln with shatter f3 right before new phantasm burst. I like the +50 Power, 5% duration for Vuln and Minor Trait more than I like or need a grandmaster/3rd trait in Inspiration. Personal preference I suppose since it suits my style better even if it might not be the best on paper.

@Pyro: A guildie of mine uses the build I posted in my last reply and is performing very well in tPVP. I’m glad to hear its viable. I’m not sure how to make this type of build work with the iSwordsman. For defense, I use sigils of energy. I can dodge/dodge during the first round with gs. When I switch, I get that extra endurance and do another roll if needed. Also, I use gs5 to push back opponents if needed. For utilities I use feedback (good for ranged enemies), blink (for mobility), decoy (good to break stuns and also open with good pressure), and I use mass invis. I usually rely on mobility and stealth for defense. The name of the game for me is to keep my phantasms up within rotation as much as I can, juke in with sword2 skill for extra burst when needed, and stealth/blink around for defense.

Edit: Curse, just realized you were on this thread as well. He is the guildie I’m referring to. Btw, this build is working great. Decided to focus more on gs rather than putting 30 in duelist with sw/pistol. Keep going back and forth!

If you don’t mind me asking, what is your current setup with your phantasm build for pvp? I’m experimenting and am loving this build, so I like to play around to see if there is one that truly shines with this playstyle.

Thanks again!

@Shinigami Curse: The projectile combo finisher through a light field removes conditions from any allies that are in the path of the projectile. It does not remove conditions from the generator of the projectiles.

@Osi: I have used veil before. I just can’t bring myself to keep it. The issue is the massive cooldown. While the target drop is nice, and now the potential condition removal, you only get it once every 90 seconds, or 72 seconds if I trait the glamours. I’ll get significantly more usage out of the condition removal mantra, iDisenchanter, blink, feedback, pretty much anything else just because of the cooldown disparity.

@avanopstall: Not sure if you completely read the op, but I put this build up really just as a silly dueling build. I don’t generally run this in competitive pvp, although it can be a decent far point attacker. However, the current build I run is 10/30/0/30/0, taking signet of illusions, decoy, and mass invisibility. I’ll switch out my inspiration traits and my heal/last utility depending on what I’m about to fight. I’ll take iDisenchanter or the mantra of resolve and the mantra heal with menders purity (I always take mender’s purity) against a condition class. If I have 2 mantras, I’ll probably take restorative mantras, otherwise I’ll take compounding celerity since swiftness is in short supply with this build.

@Pyro: Thank you for the info! I’ll continue playing around with different builds similar to the ones discussed in this thread to see what fits my play style. I appreciate all of the information!

@avanopstall: I’m using same build as you do. What sigils, runes and amulet do you use?

Why put 5 points in illusion tree? Isn’t compound celerity a better choice since you want to run fast and be defensive while your phantasm kills stuff

Wokao.7394:

Why put 5 points in illusion tree? Isn’t compound celerity a better choice since you want to run fast and be defensive while your phantasm kills stuff

I haven’t updated this build in quite a while, and the 5 points in illusions is a relic from before we got a visit from the nerf hammer. Go ahead and put those 5 points into inspiration.

one question to the relation between fully traited phantasm damage (without IC) and damage from the player itself by mantras 16% boost (which means 10+/30/x/x/x based builds) in:

is it comparable damage?
not even in pure dps or sustained, but in terms of evryday average fights.

i run 20/30/20/0/0/0 a while now in pve with gs and either staff or scepter/pistol cooldown traited, mainly using scepter to apply torment /if enemies ever came too close thru ports e.g.)
and got next to no probs even in champ fights. sometimes i switch one mantra for the stun/condi sigil sigil to get decent bleednumbers.

most important is of course precision and critdamage to get more or less constant critdamage, otherwise that build wouldnt work that well tbh, and to switch weapons after the 25stacks to max out dmg% (5 or +10 at night which gives a total boost 21 or 26%).

but im still not sure if the dmg from player can do enough pressure, which means in pvp enemies should have a hard time deciding between killing either phantasms or the player, AND if its viable to use less than three mantras to have more utilities, than stun from sigil and block from scepter plus pushback from greatsword plus moa.

no need for that much defensive tools in pve, but im not sure if this setup works well enough in wvw.

Pyroatheist.9031:

Wokao.7394:

Why put 5 points in illusion tree? Isn’t compound celerity a better choice since you want to run fast and be defensive while your phantasm kills stuff

I haven’t updated this build in quite a while, and the 5 points in illusions is a relic from before we got a visit from the nerf hammer. Go ahead and put those 5 points into inspiration.

Oh, ok. Is there anything else you think needs to be changed for current meta?

@Pyro, I really would like to just thank you for posting this build here.

I know it’s out of date, and the only change in the last 4 months was to shift the 5 points from Illusions into Inspiration… But can I tell you a story?

My Mesmer was my first character. I levelled her to 80, only to find PvP and WvW boring, unexciting, and always ending with me dying repeatedly.

I sunk my time into many other alts, into levelling a Ranger, which hit 80… And I was spending almost all my time on my Ranger. However, my Ranger suffered from the problem whereby I liked the playstyle, but hated the lousy numbers I was outputting.

So I decided to give Mesmer one more try. I Googled “Mesmer PvP Build” and this thread came out. 4 months old. I told myself, hey, what the heck, it sounds fun.

With my old Mesmer, in sPVP, I’d easily die 7-8 times a match, and kill people usually if it was an uneven fight, and they were outnumbered. I had NEVER killed another player 1v1 with my old Mesmer.

With my Ranger, I had better odds, I won maybe 40% of my 1v1 duels.

Today, I pillaged the battlefield. I went 4 matches in sPVP without a single death, racking kills so easily.

1v1s were easy as hell to pull off, just kept dodging, blocking, dodging, blocking, pop the stealth and stealthcast Moa (just for kicks, it’s funny to see a huge pink Moa running around)…

I went into a 1v2 situation multiple times. Every. Single. Time. I emerged victorious.
A few of these 1v2 situations I had to retreat, stealth, heal up and LoS around stuff, but my phantasms kept the heat on the enemy even while I was retreating.

I even went into some 1v3s. Alright, I lost all the 1v3’s I entered, but usually I’d manage to put at least one guy out of the fight.

@Pyro, I just wanted to say a huge thanks. For helping re-inspire me to the first class that captivated me. For helping me be awesome at PvP. (Alright, I know sPVP isn’t a good gauge, but it’s a start.)

But most importantly, for helping me rediscover FUN with the Mesmer.

Updated the build to reflect more recent changes. Also updated with the configuration of stats that I use for roaming.

Additionally, I’ve been using this build more for roaming and small groups in WvW, and find it quite effective. The key is that you can focus your damage or spread it out by how you target your phantasms. For focused damage, you’ll load up 1 person with both phantasms, but for more spread damage you can put them on different targets, and even go attack a third.

How do you handle thieves? If any kind of thief jumps on me he r*pes me completely.

Koala.2805:

How do you handle thieves? If any kind of thief jumps on me he r*pes me completely.

Most often thieves will try to CC you when they jump on you, break stun with Decoy, dont panic, sort yourself out.
Block his next few attacks, CC him and summon your phantasm when he’s not in stealth.
You’re now all set.

keenlam.4753:

Koala.2805:

How do you handle thieves? If any kind of thief jumps on me he r*pes me completely.

Most often thieves will try to CC you when they jump on you, break stun with Decoy, dont panic, sort yourself out.
Block his next few attacks, CC him and summon your phantasm when he’s not in stealth.
You’re now all set.

That’s the goal, anyway. Sometimes hard to do correctly. At least for me it is.

Koala.2805:

How do you handle thieves? If any kind of thief jumps on me he r*pes me completely.

What other people said, but also, if you’re having trouble, try stacking more Toughness until you reach a point where you don’t die so quickly. It like training wheels, because you have to give up some burst damage to increase your Toughness, but it gives you a little more time to see what to do.

The extra Toughness also may not win the fights for you, because of the damage loss, but that’s not really what it’s for; it’s just to make it take the Thief slightly longer to win, so you can more easily see what he’s doing and how to counter it.

When you start to get the idea, shift back toward damage until you reach a balance where you can usually kill them before they can kill you.

Pyroatheist -

Just wanted to say I really enjoy and appreciate all the build guides that you posted on this forum. I am a new player to guild wars 2 and I am close to reaching level 80 on my mesmer and have found the resources you provided very helpful. I am looking to find a good “starter” build when I hit level 80 and start doing more endgame play, and I plan on doing more WvW than anything else. That said, the majority of my WvW will be duo’ed with my Thief friend or in a small guild group consisting of 4~5 people. I don’t know other class mechanics too much, so I was wondering given the following factors:

1. “forgiveness” factor of the build for player still learning the game and wants to get better
2. synergy with Thief for duo
3. can contribute to small groups

Would you recommend your Phantasm build (or variation) for me? Or would something like a Blackwater build or other from the build list be better suited for the above factors? Also, what kind of role in a small group would I play given your recommendation for build?

Thanks again!

Used to use this build in spvp in hotjoin and duel server’s with great success. Been dueling in WvW a lot during these blowout matches. Specced into this and was killing everything until I ran into a Perplex Thief using PD, PP.

I’ll just say I got wrecked 3 times in a row and was puzzled. I’d get 5to 8 stacks of confuse on me really fast. 1 time it was like 12 stacks plus all the other damage he did. So i had to try to cleanse and hurt myself or just sit there and get wrecked. I did better the last 2 times with blocks and flurry but the thief still found ways to get stacks on me then pew pew me once my evades were on cd.

I even switched to mantra heal and cleanse had them recharged but it wasn’t enough. I did almost down him as I went down with phantasm damage but that was too late. When my phanty’s did there big burst he had instinctual response so he stealthed.
I main a thief as well so know all there moves and still just got beat.

Any advice on this matchup or against any of the classes that can abuse those runes? I really dislike those runes.

So against a that sort of thief build, the important thing is getting the phantasms out in the first place, any way you can. The main problem is not the confusion stacks themselves, but the fact that the thief is interrupting the phantasms. There’s a few ways to facilitate that.

You can do it by using stealth. Hit decoy, drop both your phantasms rapidly. You can also do it with a daze on the thief, either with magic bullet or activating the sword block. Alternatively, you could even grab the stability mantra, and protect your casts with that.

Once you have phantasms out, the fight is over. You don’t need to attack into the confusion, and you can just let the phantasms do their job.

A note on the above. If you think the thief is a particularly good one, shatter your clones before you go into stealth. A good thief will use dagger#5 on your clones to invis while you are invis, rendering your decoy useless.

Phantasm from stealth followed immediately by magic bullet and your second phantasm works well.

Another method is to use F4 to buy yourself the time to get phantasms up.

Once the phantasms are up they will quite literally destroy the thief as soon as he comes out of stealth.

I’ve played this build for a while, and a good tanky/ condition engineer who is smart enough to kill the phantasms with bombs then stack conditions on me is the hardest thing I’ve fought. I won 3-0, but it was always down to the last few thousand HP.

Things that were a complete stomp were d/p thieves who perma blind me and put up too much pressure for me to properly get out phantasms before it’s too late. Blind = ruined.

Great info Pyro and fade.
Thinking back i did almost down him quick one fight when i used a lot of stealth early and had phantasms out. I didnt shatter them though. As he shadowed and re opened.

I hope i can run into more fights like it. I want to duel and 1vx at a higher level than my thief.

Been playing this build in spvp lately. It absolutely destroys condition necros and most bunkers, which is a big bonus to mesmer play.

However, it’s unable to truly dent regen/stun warriors, or warriors with multiple immobilizes as that negates the ability to kite. (Utility change possible, but I usually just avoid these players and go for other kills).

It also seems weak against burst aoe, as that destroys the phantasms much quicker than I can output them. (I’ll give a few potshots to see if they’re bad players, but if they’re any good, stealth and leave).

But overall, I quite like the spec.

Car.3805:

Been playing this build in spvp lately. It absolutely destroys condition necros and most bunkers, which is a big bonus to mesmer play.

However, it’s unable to truly dent regen/stun warriors, or warriors with multiple immobilizes as that negates the ability to kite. (Utility change possible, but I usually just avoid these players and go for other kills).

It also seems weak against burst aoe, as that destroys the phantasms much quicker than I can output them. (I’ll give a few potshots to see if they’re bad players, but if they’re any good, stealth and leave).

But overall, I quite like the spec.

Against stun warriors, using your active defense (dodges, blocks, stunbreaks, blurred frenzy) wisely is very important. If you waste them, you will get killed. However, using them effectively to avoid the lockdown provides you with a very easy match. Additionally, warriors are really unable to focus on both you and your phantasms, so if they decide to go chasing around a swordsman, you get a nice breather. Pretty much the same thing against immobilize warriors. That’s pretty much just pin down and bolas, so you just need to avoid those 2 skills.

I’m curious as to what classes you’re fighting that have burst aoe capable of hitting spread out phantasms. If you group all your phantasms close together, then they can be cleaved down, but proper placement makes them impossible to actually kill together.

The stun warrior seemed capable of hard hits while his health was barely touched by the phantasms. I’ve only met one really good one, but almost every one of his hits forced me to blow some kind of cooldown, because if I didn’t, it was around 5k gone from life, at least. Most stun warriors I met weren’t this hard hitting.

The immobilize warrior was a different issue, and I think he was built for longer immobilize. That probably could have been dealt with via a utility switch. This also goes for the regen warrior – needed to strip his boons.

For the burst aoe, I actually met a berserker guardian. He greatsword pulled the phantasms and me, and they melted from whirl and aoe on ground. Then, he was able to one/two hit additional phantasms after that pull. There was also a berserker ele who was able to one/two hit the phantasms, pretty much ring of fire and slid to spike. I can usually survive against these types of builds, but it forces me to run and reset for cooldowns to be up for another try.

I’m a newish player to spvp, only in soloq or hotjoin for dailies – so perhaps it’s my inexperience in this arena.

Car.3805:

The stun warrior seemed capable of hard hits while his health was barely touched by the phantasms. I’ve only met one really good one, but almost every one of his hits forced me to blow some kind of cooldown, because if I didn’t, it was around 5k gone from life, at least. Most stun warriors I met weren’t this hard hitting.

The immobilize warrior was a different issue, and I think he was built for longer immobilize. That probably could have been dealt with via a utility switch. This also goes for the regen warrior – needed to strip his boons.

For the burst aoe, I actually met a berserker guardian. He greatsword pulled the phantasms and me, and they melted from whirl and aoe on ground. Then, he was able to one/two hit additional phantasms after that pull. There was also a berserker ele who was able to one/two hit the phantasms, pretty much ring of fire and slid to spike. I can usually survive against these types of builds, but it forces me to run and reset for cooldowns to be up for another try.

I’m a newish player to spvp, only in soloq or hotjoin for dailies – so perhaps it’s my inexperience in this arena.

As far as guardians go, a zerker guardian will be able to do that, but not very often. Try to space out your phantasms more to keep them out of range of binding blade, and you should be able to avoid that. However, both eles and guardians will need to make the choice between chasing after your phantasms or chasing after you, and neither choice is a winner.

With stun warriors, again you just need to dodge the stuns. If you dodge the stuns, you don’t need to blow cooldowns, it’s pretty straightforward.

Pyro,

Wanted to say thank you for your build, and the fact that you update it. It’s been a bad habit of mine to run a search for your posts to get some information to better myself as a Mesmer. Big time thank you.

Pyro,

Thanks from me as well for this thread and the other help you provide on the forum.

Is this build, as currently depicted in the first post, still current?

How well would it work in PvE or WvW as opposed to PvP?

Anyone still running this build? I’m trying it in sPVP now, almost exactly as Pyro laid it out, with mixed results. I’m far from experienced, so there may be nothing wrong with the build. I sometimes do pretty well with it, but often find that I am not able to keep enough illusions up to pressure my opponents and keep them off me. I sort of end up running around like a moa with my head cut off and feeling very much not in control of the combat… though maybe that’s the point.

Anyway, any tips to making this feel more “overpowered” would be useful.

Qaelyn.7612:

Anyone still running this build? I’m trying it in sPVP now, almost exactly as Pyro laid it out, with mixed results. I’m far from experienced, so there may be nothing wrong with the build. I sometimes do pretty well with it, but often find that I am not able to keep enough illusions up to pressure my opponents and keep them off me. I sort of end up running around like a moa with my head cut off and feeling very much not in control of the combat… though maybe that’s the point.

Anyway, any tips to making this feel more “overpowered” would be useful.

Are there any particular classes/builds that you’re having trouble with?

I use a very similar build, but I don’t bother with the Scepter as it feels a bit out of place (Scepter to me is a condition or shatter spec weapon if anything)

Sword / Pistol & Greastsword

20/20/5/25/0

I find the GS is excellent when you have a bit of breathing room. 1 Can put out moderate damage at range, 2 is pretty decent , 3 is great for removing a boon from an enemy (Especially when they are trying to get away with swiftness) 4 is… well iZerker is pretty sweet and 5 is great for interrupts (Excellent if the enemy is about to finish off a downed allie)

I take the 5 in chaos for the extra regeneration and toughness. Also to say the GS has no defensive use is nonsense, the knockback on it’s 5 has saved my kitten so many times (not to mention the amount of times I’ve knocked people off ledges )

Pyroatheist.9031:

Are there any particular classes/builds that you’re having trouble with?

I suppose “all of them” wouldn’t be terribly useful? I’ll try to pay more attention going forward. Off the top of my head, I think condition-spammers like necros and engis — though my guess is everyone has trouble with those. I also sometimes find I can’t generate enough damage to take down the heavy bunker types.

Xylith, that sounds like a more conventional phantasm build, which I’ve also tinkered with. As Pyro will likely say, this build is oriented around defense, not direct offense, so using those weapons makes it rather different. I’ve always been a big GS fan myself, but aside from the relatively long-cooldown #5, it really doesn’t have much in the way of defense compared to alternatives such as the staff.

I actually am one of the few people who likes the scepter. I enjoy teasing people into attacking with my arm up and watching the big torment tick. Off-hand sword is something I’ve never used before and is taking some adjustment.

I’m also tinkering with using a carrion amulet instead of a berserker one, to help take better advantage of the condition damage from weapons like the scepter, and the bleeds that the phantasms lay down. I think you are one of the folks that hates carrion, Pyro. But based on my calculations, using it reduces direct damage by about 40% (taking into account criticals) but nearly doubles condition damage. I have to test it more to see how it works… because it may be that the split between direct and condition damage means berserker is still better.

Actually I should make a carrion amulet with a berserker gem and try that.

Now that’s not a bad idea! I’m going to give Sword / Pistol & Staff a try.

Just had a quick play.

What about a 10/20/15/25

Took 10 out of domination and put it into chaos (from my previous build) adding Illusionary defense (I was trying to play around to see if I could get 20 in chaos too, but will miss some phantasm damage) that way gaining protection with regen constantly, increasing toughness overall and having effectively 9% reduced damage with illusionary defense.

may i ask why the build use critical damage if technicaly the phantasm dont benefits from it?

kyubi.3620:

may i ask why the build use critical damage if technicaly the phantasm dont benefits from it?

They do.

Xylith.4873:

I use a very similar build, but I don’t bother with the Scepter as it feels a bit out of place (Scepter to me is a condition or shatter spec weapon if anything)

Sword / Pistol & Greastsword

20/20/5/25/0

I find the GS is excellent when you have a bit of breathing room. 1 Can put out moderate damage at range, 2 is pretty decent , 3 is great for removing a boon from an enemy (Especially when they are trying to get away with swiftness) 4 is… well iZerker is pretty sweet and 5 is great for interrupts (Excellent if the enemy is about to finish off a downed allie)

I take the 5 in chaos for the extra regeneration and toughness. Also to say the GS has no defensive use is nonsense, the knockback on it’s 5 has saved my kitten so many times (not to mention the amount of times I’ve knocked people off ledges )

5 in chaos is all sorts of a waste. With 15 in inspiration, you have permanent regen.

Again, the greatsword is an offensive weapon. This build is designed to let phantasms take the entire offensive role. Weapon skills have only 1 purpose: defense. Additionally, the zerker is a weaker phantasm than either the swordsman or duelist.

I think one of my difficulties with it, actually, Pyro, is that exact defensive focus. Weapons always have an offensive attack on the #1 slot, so it can be used over and over. In contrast, the defense on the weapons in the build is via weapon skills with cooldowns. There’s only 3 or 4 of them I can use every 20 seconds, and that means the rest of the time I’m running around like a headless moa.

That said, I do seem to be getting a bit more comfortable with the build, though I still need a lot more practice.

@Qaelyn: Against high condition builds, take mantra of healing and mantra of condition removal (or iDisenchanter in place of that second mantra).

Remember that the scepter and sword blocks are your defense, not offense. Any offense from them is merely coincidental.

Carrion amulet would be an awful choice. You’re not only losing a ton of power and critical damage, but also a ton of crit chance. Where are your bleeds coming from wih that low crit chance? Additionally, condition damage is worse than physical damage. Condition damage is susceptible to condition removals, etc. Additionally, the swordsman is bad for condition application, you have no access to poison or burning, and so your conditions will be very weak.

Yeah I expected that response.

You’re more experienced than I am so I’m not going to argue that I know better than you do. It’s just a bit of theorycrafting on my part.

Compared to a berserker’s amulet, a carrion amulet with berserker jewel changes the iSwordsman’s damage (based on tooltip) from 1775 to 1582, a change of about -10%. Duelist damage goes down by around the same amount. Crit chance, taking into account the trait, drops from 71% to 44%. Crit damage reduces from +50% to +35%.

Now the flipside.. sharper images damage increases by 94%, from 255 to 495. So they are going to crit less often but it’s going to hurt a lot more.

Damage from the #2 scepter block goes up by 76%, and confusion damage from #3 a similar amount. This seems like a much stronger payoff for trying to block stuff.

As a bonus, 3k more HP, which is nothing to sneeze at.

I thought of this because I’ve simply noticed that many of my opponents in PvP are not cleansing the conditions properly or rapidly, and it’s what is taking them down. The bleeds do much more damage and there’s a lot of them thanks to the phantasms. And the torment is deadly and a lot of people oddly don’t get rid of it.

Question: why do you run sigils of paralyzation in this build? I only see pistol #5 with a stun and that doesn’t seem like it warrants a sigil, especially since 15% of a small number is still pretty small. I was thinking of trying doom instead to help provide some of that other condition pressure.

Another question: if the goal is mainly defense, have you tried this with scepter+pistol and staff?

Thanks.

How do you beat these two builds in sPvP?

1) Mesmer using Sword / Torch + Sword / Pistol. He runs 20/20/30/0/0 with Prismatic Understanding and a bunch of condition-on-death traits for illusions, then runs circles while spamming illusions + stealth.
2) Warriors in general. These guys seem to take no damage, but deal a lot of damage in return, and it’s only a matter of time before I run out of defensive tools and they either kill me or force me off the point. Even if I catch them in a 2v1 they just disengage and run away as well, and I can’t catch up with them to kill them …

Para sigils are mainly because nothing else really makes sense honestly. % bonuses don’t transfer to phantasms so…w/e. any other on swap sigils (like doom) or on crits will replace energy sigils, and that’s not a sacrifice that is smart to make.

The issue is that you’re only applying 2 conditions and a little confusion. That’s very easy to cleanse, so your losing a lot of damage for some potential damage that will be completely nullified by any build with cleanses.

Additionally, your personal crit chance is extremely low. You won’t be hitting people much, so you want your hits to have a high chance of critting —> easier to proc vigor, which is very important for defense.

The goal is defense, but defense is actually secondary to absolute maximized phantasm damage. The warlock is strong, but it tends to miss a lot in pvp, because the bolt doesn’t track. It’s also significantly weaker than the swordsman. Additionally, the mainhand sword has far better defense than scepter, and offhand sword actually has defense, unlike pistol. Ultimately, you’re not changing you’re defense that much, but getting a significantly weaker phantasm.

Pyroatheist.9031:

Para sigils are mainly because nothing else really makes sense honestly. % bonuses don’t transfer to phantasms so…w/e. any other on swap sigils (like doom) or on crits will replace energy sigils, and that’s not a sacrifice that is smart to make.

Okay, I’m missing something here. Do certain sigils interfere with each other in dual weapon sets or something?

Pyroatheist.9031:

The goal is defense, but defense is actually secondary to absolute maximized phantasm damage. The warlock is strong, but it tends to miss a lot in pvp, because the bolt doesn’t track. It’s also significantly weaker than the swordsman. Additionally, the mainhand sword has far better defense than scepter, and offhand sword actually has defense, unlike pistol. Ultimately, you’re not changing you’re defense that much, but getting a significantly weaker phantasm.

Gotcha.

My main problem with the build still boils down to the other guy being able to spam offense and me being unable to spam defense. What am I supposed to do after my 1 or 2 blocks are gone? Running away isn’t practical when I’m trying to cap a point.

That’s why I was thinking about the staff, because with decent condition damage the staff can be defensive but also can generate clones that do real damage. Was just a thought.

I’m just not all that impressed with main hand sword for defensive purposes. #2 is great IF you time it right and get someone willing to stand there and take a bunch of slashes to the face, but for me at least that is rare. And then what?

Qaelyn.7612:

Pyroatheist.9031:

Para sigils are mainly because nothing else really makes sense honestly. % bonuses don’t transfer to phantasms so…w/e. any other on swap sigils (like doom) or on crits will replace energy sigils, and that’s not a sacrifice that is smart to make.

Okay, I’m missing something here. Do certain sigils interfere with each other in dual weapon sets or something?

Okay, I tested this and got poison and no energy. That’s stupid.

Are there any other “unwritten rules” of sigils I should know? Thanks.

All sigils with a cooldown share that cooldown. That’s pretty much all you need to know.

Blurred frenzy is far better defensively than the block. Don’t even worry about the damage it deals or anything. BF is 2.5 seconds evade all attacks. The block blocks 1 attack, that’s it. Additionally, illusionary swap is a stunbreak on a 10 second cooldown.

This build can spam defense quite effectively, and most importantly it can spam defense while it spams offense. Drop your phantasms in, and that’s your offense spam. Now you can spam defense. Block, block, dodge, dodge, weapon swap, blurred frenzy, dodge, dodge, stun, swap, repeat. You can play with los, dodging around the point. They have to stay on the point, you don’t.

Pyroatheist.9031:

All sigils with a cooldown share that cooldown. That’s pretty much all you need to know.

Okay, thanks. Why not use an on-crit then? Nearly anything seems more useful than +15% stun time in that build. (EDIT: NVM, they have cooldowns too, just not in the in-game descriptions.)

Pyroatheist.9031:

Now you can spam defense. Block, block, dodge, dodge, weapon swap, blurred frenzy, dodge, dodge, stun, swap, repeat.

Unless there’s some way to dramatically speed up weapon swaps, I honestly don’t get what you mean here. Those things just happen way too fast, and then all I have left is running in circles and hoping they attack the phantasms instead of me.

ETA: I think you just kicked my butt in a team match, lol. What were you running?

Qaelyn.7612:

Pyroatheist.9031:

Now you can spam defense. Block, block, dodge, dodge, weapon swap, blurred frenzy, dodge, dodge, stun, swap, repeat.

Unless there’s some way to dramatically speed up weapon swaps, I honestly don’t get what you mean here. Those things just happen way too fast, and then all I have left is running in circles and hoping they attack the phantasms instead of me.

Well, you shouldn’t be actually spamming all your defense at the same time. Condition classes are the ones that spam offense, and you deal with that by using cleanses. Most other classes have specific things to dodge or block. Avoid that backstab, the heart seeker, the earth shaker or pin down. Not every random autoattack.

Well that sounds good in theory and maybe for someone with your level of experience it works in practice. But when I try to play this build, all I need is one warrior in my face and those couple of defenses are gone in a couple of seconds and then I’m taking massive damage. And of course, if there’s more than 1 person, I’m toast.

I’m not trying to criticize your build, I’m sure it works well for you. But unless I’m missing something major, it takes a lot of skill to pull off…

Question, do phantasms benefit from your base crit/crit damage so that the extra 20% crit from phantasmal fury will stack.

Amazing build btw! Really appreciate all of the help you have provided!

I’ve always had problems with mesmers since day one of release. Finally decided to level one, and it is quickly becoming my new favorite profession. I plan to use it in wvw roaming havoc groups. I play a staff ele as my main, which I also love, but this seems like the change of pace I’ve been looking for.

@MrSilver: Phantasms inherit your basic stats with the exception of vitality.

This means they inherit your precision, but not your crit chance. Fury on the Mesmer will have no effect on the phantasm, but something boosting precision will transfer.

Likewise, phantasms have their own secondary stats, but not primary. Might on the Mesmer will increase phantasm damage, but might on the phantasm does nothing, and fury on the phantasm will increase its critical chance.