Guild Wars 2

Revenge of the Clones Guide

Abstract:
I am a huge fan of the Mesmer’s illusions – it is the only reason I play this profession. Phantasms are varied, interesting, and can pack a punch. Clones on the other hand…are very underwhelming once you realize they deal little to no damage directly and have a pretty bad wrap. Even traited and geared for survivability, they can’t sustain much damage, they can overwrite and kill one of our valued phantasms, and even traited and geared for damage, shatter can be underwhelming and can leave you exposed. Let’s not forget, they die once their target is defeated.

Most foes can shrug off untraited clones and even if a clone ‘takes a hit’ for you, a foe can kill multiple clones with no reprisal with a single skill, often with a cooldown shorter than the one you used to cast it. Some only consider the Staff clone worthwhile as it is the only one with an innate ability to deal damage through Winds of Chaos condition application.

This guide seeks to change this outlook. Unlike Phantasm builds, you will not be forced to avoid 20% of your weapon skills to avoid overwriting your phantasm b/c you won’t need three phantasms up. Unlike Shatter builds, you will not be forced to shatter every time you have three illusions up to avoid ‘wasting’ illusions and leave your self exposed.
The core build has a lot of flex for you to tweak it to meet your playstyle. If you’ve never given clones a second thought, hopefully this guide will change your outlook. Also, these clones explode on death.

Summary:
Take traits to improve clone damage output, apply Conditions that trigger on clone/illusion death, and illusion generation. The goal is to make clones punish foes whether the opponent kills them or ignores them. High illusion generation will allow you to overwrite clones to force on death triggers even if an opponent chooses to ignore them.

Core Traits (50 points):
Improve clone damage output
*Sharper Images (Duel 15) – illusions apply bleeds on crit. This is the only trait that improves active clone damage. As you need to go Duel 25 to pick up Confusing Combatants, the extra precision synergizes well.

Apply conditions on clone/illusion death
*Crippling Dissipation (Domination 10) – Cripple on clone death
*Confusing Combatants (Duel 25) – Confuse on illusion death
*Debilitating Dissipation (Chaos 10) – Weakness or Bleed on clone death

Illusion Generation
*Critical Infusion (Duel 5) – Vigor on crit. This stacks and helps fuel Deceptive Evasion
*Blade Training (Duel 10) – Although it’s possible to take any of the weapon cooldown traits, MH sword synergizes the best with this build as Sword clones naturally spawn/fight in melee range where they need to be for the on death traits to hit. OH sword is optional, but I will get into that in the Weapon Review section.
*Deceptive Evasion (Duel 20) – Creates a clone on dodge. Does not have to evade an attack and only needs a target in range when the dodge is used. This is the bread and butter of this build since it typically allows you to summon four illusions immediately at the beginning of an engagement and basically acts as an additional skill cooldown to generate clones.
*Illusionists Celerity (Illusions 5) – Straightforward. This DOES stack with weapon cooldown traits and there are enough leftover points to pick up any weapon cooldown trait if you choose to do so.

Recommended Traits:
*Phantasmal Fury (Duel 10) – Grants Fury (+20% crit) to phantasms. Requires Duel 30 unless you swap out Blade Training. Although this doesn’t affect clones, this synergizes extremely well with the attribute bonuses from Duel and Sharper Images to increase damage output.
*Illusionary Defense (Chaos 20) – 3% reduced damage for each illusion you have in the world. As you will be constantly creating illusions and not shattering them every cooldown, this can help counteract the need for melee range.
*Compounding Power (Illusions 10) – 3% more damage for each of your active illusions. I don’t know if this bonus increases illusion or condition damage, but I’ve always liked the flavor of being more ‘powerful’ when you have more illusions out. Again, this buff should practically always be present except in PvE dungeons/AoE fests.

Honorable Mention Traits:
*Vengeful Images (Inspiration 5) – Grants Retaliation to phantasms. If you feel you have enough crit, this can further punish foes for going after phantasms.
*Compounding Celerity (Inspiration 10) – Move Faster for each active illusion. As your foe will typically be crippled from the constant applications of Crippling Dissipation, I generally don’t find this skill as helpful, but others may greatly enjoy the added mobility.

There are plenty of great traits I didn’t mention and that’s because they’re great independent of this build. Traits that improve shatter, phantasms, increase survivability, or rely on interrupts will likely get more mileage out of a build that focuses on those aspects and likely won’t want/need traits that trigger on clone death.

Recommended Skills:
*Mirror Images – Breaks stun and nets you two clones. Can be used offensively to start an engagement or kill off two clones immediately. Defensively to replace clones if you’re under cap, out of endurance/other CD’s, or break stuns. This is my favorite utility skill and isn’t necessary for this build due to Deceptive Evasion, but it synergizes very well.
*Decoy – as you’ll often be in melee, Decoy provides an escape route on top of breaking stun and another clone!
*Feedback – Create a dome around your foes that reflect projectiles. Since I recommend MH sword/melee, Feedback can be used offensively to close the gap with a ranged foe or defensively to keep them off your back while you deal with the melee. Ethereal field combos well with Swap (Sword 3 chain) and Phantasmal Swordsman (Sword 5) to provide Chaos Armor or Phantasmal Duelist (Pistol 4) to provide additional confusion stacks.
*Null Field – Condition removal is important! I prefer Null Field as it comes with an ethereal field and can hit multiple targets (Sword 1 chain 3 only hits a single target to remove a single boon).
*Phantasmal Disenchanter – Not my preferred condition removal, but it has the lowest utility Phantasm CD so synergizes somewhat with the build.

Gear Stats:
I prefer Rampager’s (precision, power, condition damage). Precision synergizes with Sharper Images and Critical Infusion. You need power to keep you and your phantasms from hitting like wet noodles. Condition damage gives your bleeds and confusions more bite.

Berserker’s is viable if you feel the +crit damage % is worth the tradeoff in condition damage. The +crit % damage only comes from you and phantasms, but depending on the quality of your gear, this can greatly improve your burst damage.

Obviously gear Vitality and Toughness to your comfort level. Vitality to counter conditions and Toughness for every day scrapping. Between distortion and constant dodging, you’re still bound to take damage by virtue of being in melee, but you can make this up through traits or player skill/style.

Weapons Review:
MH Sword
Pros:
*Sword clones spawn in melee range, apply cripple, immobilize, attack quickly compared to other clones, and have access to Leap
*Apply vulnerability and boon removal through auto-attack and clones
*Blurred Frenzy (Sword 2) provides melee AoE, can crit multiple times to trigger Vigor, and 2s distortion. Blade Training brings the CD to 8s, meaning you have 6s you may as well spend dodging in/out of melee range.

Cons:
*Melee Range
*Blurred Frenzy doesn’t allow movement
*Sword clones only have 600 range (feels shorter, though)

OH Sword
Pros:
*Phantasmal Swordsman has access to Leap/Chaos Armor, 1200 range, and attacks relatively quickly
*Illusionary Riposte (Sword 4) gives you access to block, more clones, and Counter Blade (Sword 4 Chain 2) gives you a ranged daze in a line. Synergizes with Illusion of Vulnerability.
*Benefits from Blade Training

Cons:
*No ranged attacks
*Daze requires prep to block first
*Phantasm stays at range and may not be able to take advantage of Confusing Combatants

Pistol
Pros:
*Phantasmal Duelist has high single target, ranged damage, can crit multiple times, and has projectile combos. Being ranged, can prevent you from losing all your illusions to a single AoE.
*Magic Bullet provides on demand stun, daze, and blind and projectile combo. Synergizes with Illusion of Vulnerability.

Cons:
*No access to AoE damage
*High CD on Magic Bullet
*Duelist’s Discipline is a bit lackluster compared to Blade training and Phantasmal Fury
*Phantasm stays at range and may not be able to take advantage of Confusing Combatants

Focus
Pros:
*Phantasmal Warden spawns in melee range, absorbs projectiles, and provides AoE damage
*Temporal Curtain gives access to Cripple, Swiftness, Light combos, Pull

Cons:
*Untraited Phantasmal Warden tends to die quickly and not sure if damage w/o Phantasmal Haste (Illusions 20) is worthwhile compared to other options.
*Temporal Curtain’s Cripple is redundant with Crippling Dissipation

Torch
Pros:
*The Prestige gives you access to stealth, blast combo, burn, and blind

Cons:
*Phantasmal Mage is the weakest weapon phantasm
*Both Torch skills have high cooldowns
*AoE damage is weak
*Phantasm stays at range and may not be able to take advantage of Confusing Combatants

Staff
Pros:
*Winds of Chaos gives you access to more conditions. Boons and can aid allies while allowing you to remain at range when things get too hot in melee
*Staff Clones have Winds of Chaos and can apply both the Sharper Image Bleed and WoC conditions on a single attack
*Phase Retreat gives access to Leap combo and has a low CD. May also be cast when knocked down.
*Phantasmal Warlock benefits from the stacked conditions and packs a wallop on crits
*Chaos Armor – note that the skill also grants protection whereas the combo does not. Works great for being in melee, but also singles you out from your clones.
*Chaos Storm provides AoE

Cons:
*Long Cooldown on Chaos Armor and Chaos Storm
*Clones and Phantasm stays at range and may not be able to take advantage of Confusing Combatants

Great Sword
Pros:
*If you went with Berserker’s Gear, you should deal respectable ranged and AoE damage between Spatial Surge, Mirror Blade, and Phantasmal Berserker
*Mirror Blade has a low cooldown
*Great Sword Clones spawn in melee range and cast Spatial Surge, which ticks multiple times and can crit separately
*Access to Cone Knockback

Cons:
*Mind Stab sucks. Boon Removal covered by Sword clones/auto-attack/Null Field. Damage is neglible. Root is dumb. Etc.
*Illusionary Wave has a short range and unclumps targets
*Spatial Surge goes from okay to horribad in melee range
*Needs a lot of Power to deal respectable damage
*Clones and Phantasm can stay at range and may not be able to take advantage of on illusion death traits

Scepter
Pros:
*Continous Clone generation via auto-attack
*Clones spawn in Melee
*Strong Channel & Confuse
*Block w/ access to Blind and additional clone generation

Cons:
*Confusing Images has long CD and provides no survivability compared to Blurring Frenzy
*Auto-attack damage scales poorly
*No on-demand clone generation
*Nerfed and never rebalanced to be on par /w Sword/Staff/GSW or replace loss of confusion application

How I play:
I use the Core & Recommended traits and typically wield Sword/Pistol & swap Staff. I keep a Sword OH and Focus in my bag to swap should I encounter a mob that reflects projectiles or a dynamic event that requires more AoE damage.

I typically keep Mirror Images, Feedback, and either Decoy or Null Field on my Bar. Elite skills can be swapped out as needed, but I’m partial to Moa. Moas do get a cone daze so be careful you don’t Moa a foe and immediately get interrupted.

I open with Phantasmal Duelist or Phantasmal Swordsman once in range of my foe. Feedback or Warden if they’re ranged. Feedback or Null Field to combo /w Duelist. Dodge towards them to create my second clone and then Illusionary Leap & Swap to close the gap for my third clone and immobilize the foe. If I’m wielding Focus, this is the point I’ll summon the Warden on melee so it doesn’t get insta gibbed halfway through its attack animation as mobs will typically have attention on me or a clone.

Once in melee range I typically cast Blurred Frenzy and then start dodging to replace/kill clones and watch the conditions pile up. Mirror Images can be fired in melee range to get two quick kills. Feedback and Null Void may be used with Sword 3 Chain 2 to grab a quick Chaos Armor (notice your clone can also gain Chaos Armor)

I will typically cast clone and phantasm weapon skills as soon as they come off cooldown to continue exploding clones. It’s rare for a single target to survive long enough to summon more than two phantasms or require a weapon swap.

If melee gets too hot, Blurred Frenzy, dodge back, weapon swap to Phase Retreat, Decoy, or even Mirror Images give you options to disengage. It’s completely permissible to use auto-attack to add vulnerability stacks and squeak in more damage.

If there are multiple targets, I will switch targets midway and start summoning new clones to replace the ones on the original target, which will typically be die to melee aoe attacks and conditions.

Weaknesses:
Melee
This build does best with clones in melee range and it shares all the typical weaknesses of being in melee except has the added burden of being a Scholar Class. There are skills, traits, and play style/skill that can mitigate this, but the fact is that melee is not a safe place to be. For example, this build, like any melee profession, will be forced to swap to a ranged weapon vs. Giants /w their high pbaoe damage.

Damage
Damage is split between the player, clones, phantasms, and derived from power, precision, and condition damage. As such, you’re not going to see numbers as big compared to glass cannon, condition, or phantasm builds. The tradeoff is that you should see more consistent damage and with the presence of your illusions, enjoy the survivability afforded by their presence on top of the freedom from the mental anguish of accidentally overwriting a phantasm.

AoE
Although AoE is accessible, it is inferior to devoted glass cannon builds. Whether its sufficient to tag mobs in dynamic events or complete the personal story quests I feel depends largely on the situation and the player. You’re not going to kill a group of mobs in 2 Mirror Blades and 1 Phantasmal Berserker with crazy crits. You can explode a bunch of clones on them for giggles.

Shatter
This build takes no traits to improve shatter. Although I like the concept, the execution of shatter in GW2 has not been implemented in such a way that I find fun or effective. Even traited, it’s often not justifiable to use shatter for damage, aoe, or really anything compared to the other skills at the Mesmer’s disposal. You can shatter with this build, but the results will be lackluster and you will suffer opportunity cost as shattered illusions do not trigger on death traits.