Guild Wars 2

Reserved for future use (I plan on doing a write-up eventually)

Reserved for future use (I plan on doing a write-up eventually)

Watching 3rd, I had already seen your other two. Seriously 10/10. I’ve subscribed and love how you broke everything down. You reinforced things I knew already and taught me several things I didn’t think of. Thank you for taking time to make these videos.

really helpful videos

Edit: Nm your changed your post.

Anyway I love the videos, thanks!

Thank you for this guide, it’s made a class I thought was boring and simply bad, into a fun and effective class, thank you very much. Very informative and well structured guide.

Good to see more people wanting to understand the mesmer rather than complaining for changes.

Thank you very much for this guide,
I was always interested in the mesmer class, now I feel like I can actually play it.

Love your videos, I saw the first two from your original reddit videos. I really liked the weapon reviews in particular. I too am a big Staff fan!

One criticism – and it’s ANETs fault since their tooltip is completely wrong – Mimic/Echo doesn’t actually behave the way you describe in your video. >Shameless link to own post<

There’s basically no reason to use it over Feedback though, unless you want to specifically stack projectile reflection.
The other thing I didn’t mention in the other post is that since the first hit goes through, you can’t use it to defend against CC moves, which is rly rly bad.

Wonderful vids, fan of the first two, enjoyed the third. Keep up the good work! Your method of explaining is so lucid and meticulous that I’m looking forward to your Guardian guide, and I hope you get into some other alts too!

Great videos! I’ve been a mesmer fan from the beginning, and I think this will help me get even better at the class I love.

Watching Part 3, excellent communication is key to your videos.
Thank you so much for doing these!

Let me just say FANTASTIC videos.

Every single mesmer out there needs to watch these. I learned quite a few things from your videos, and was happy to see that I already had a pretty good grasp on the class.

Thank you for taking the time and posting these videos Mr. Prometheus.

I’d recommend a sticky on this thread.

I don’t remember if you mentioned it in your 2nd video, but is there a strategy for putting points into the build as you level?

Thanks a ton for this guide. I cannot remember if you covered this in your build section though.

Would putting points into Dueling be a bit better if you are running a sword/oh as one of your weapon setups instead of putting points into power?

Thanks for the guide, it’s very helpful.

Your videos helped me to improve my mesmer playstyle a lot. Thank you.

Thanks for posting these videos. This made my transition from playing a Engineer to a Mesmer much easier.

I tried mesmer when GW2 first came out but deleted it after not “getting it” and finding it under-powered, but after watching your video I gave it another try and am having a ton of fun. For now my main will continue to be my guardian but mesmer will be there when I want a unique play-style that requires more finesse.

I first tried sword/sceptor & torch, and greatsword and found them underwhelming compared to the same load out on guardian but the staff.. chaos storm and armor is just too much fun.

the only thing i dislike about all this videos is

that you explain it soo perfectly great, that i bet a LOT of other ppl is gnna be learning how to play mesmers now.. and is gonna become the most played class..

im selfish.. i dont want ppl learning how to play mesmer.. Q_Q

but yeah.. really great videos..

Very impressive. I just watched the first video, but I’ll be getting to the others tomorrow. I hadn’t bothered to give the focus the time of day due to the defensive nature of its abilities, but I hadn’t really considered the combo potential it provides nor the sheer damage that warden puts out!

I was also a bit surprised by how well you viewed the greatsword. I had always found the damage output severely lacking (note: pre-buff), and while mirror blade is wonderful, it didn’t make up for the otherwise lackluster performance. The point about the berserker effectively taking the melee hits for you is an interesting point of synergy, though, so I’ll definitely be giving it another shot, particularly with that buff.

I fully agree on the staff, though, and I always keep one on hand for the reasons you listed. Honestly, the quality of support chaos storm grants in the big boss fights is completely unrivaled, often outclassing elite skills. All it needs is someone to provide the Blast to give everyone chaos armor, and the situation quickly turns in the players’ favor. Add in everything else the staff does (particularly those condition-inflicting clones!), and you’ve got an obvious home-run weapon.

I still enjoy the scepter, though, as a shatter-heavy build can very easily spam out Mind Wrack or, even better, Cry of Frustration with alarming frequency. PvE mobs will often kill off a clone or two while you’re auto-attacking, which slows down clone production from that enough to allow for the shatter skills to recharge. CoF combos very nicely with Confusing Images, and I will have to respectfully disagree with your analysis of PvE mobs not being reliable enough on triggering confusion. With CI, you will almost always get a trigger in, and oftentimes two. Five stacks of confusion usually results in more damage than the five hits of the beam itself from a single attack, so two attacks can mean death for trash mobs.

I also want to put in a word of support for the blocking skills, both scepter’s 2 and sword’s 4. They effectively give a blind, deal a good chunk of damage, AND create a clone! This means that pairing the scepter and sword allows you to 1) land five stacks of confusion, 2) block the next attack or two while still dealing confusion damage, 3) deal one or two counterattacks worth of damage, and 4) shatter your clones for the coup de grace. 1 on 1, it’s a good way to clean up.

I won’t say the scepter outclasses the mainhand sword, but your video ranks it as the worst mesmer weapon available (and hey, something needs to have that title), and pre-buff, I would have given that title to the greatsword. It’s still a build-dependent weapon (straight DPS the scepter is not), but perhaps a touch underrated.

Thank you for putting this together. I’m new to the Mesmer, new to Guild Wars and new to mmos, your videos made me much better and made it much more fun! I can’t wait to see your builds, but I feel that I’ve now got enough knowledge to make my own!

Again, much appreciated! More pvp footage please!

Thanks a lot, I’ve tried looking up guides and was getting really fed up that most were out of date or non-exsistant. This is really what I was looking for.

wait, what changed with the greatsword since this post was made?

Basically, it got made good. As taken from the developer notes:

“Spatial Surge: Improved responsiveness.
Mind Stab: Improved responsiveness.”

By which they seem to mean that both skills have been sped up. I’ve heard that Mind Stab now goes off faster, so there’s less time spent stabbing the ground and more time running around. I am assuming that, similarly, Spatial Surge deals damage more rapidly (did I hear twice as fast/often?), which would significantly improve its DPS. So, you know, maybe it’s awesome right now. I still need to try it.

best guide in the entire game, so indepth and really reveals what the class can actually do, ty so much for this

Awesome, thank you so much.

Top notch sir! I thoroughly enjoyed these videos and I eagerly await new installments. Like many people I always considered the Mesmer fun but underpowered. After watching these videos and tuning my builds and playstyle I have come to realize that in no way are Mesmers underpowered. Anyone who complains about the Mesmer has clearly not seen these videos.

My hat off to you MrPrometheus, you’ve done the Mesmer community an enormous favor!

Very nice guide, I managed to make it through all of the videos! I have a level 11 mesmer and was having a VERY tough time choosing my weapons, but now I think I’m set.

A couple questions after absorbing all that info.

First: from your experience, and since you run an illusion build, do you find using clones with the on death traits to be more useful than using phantasms with Signet of Illusions for a more tanky/higher dps build?

I understand you would have to go into the Inspiration tree instead of Domination for a phantasm build, but it seems like it may be just as effective at keeping damage off you as all the effects on illusion death, but with a fair bit more damage.

Second: the build you use and suggest is not just an illusion build, but a fairly heavy condition build. Would a sceptre work well in these scenarios, even though confusion isn’t so great PvE? Also, as a cond build, is the Signet of Domination still not strong enough vs some of the other utilities?

Thanks again for the videos, it gave me a lot of insight on what I wanted to do with my mesmer, and answered a LOT of questions I had

Wow, thanks for time and effort you put into your guides.

It would be nice for to get some commentary on racial skills that might fit. For example, Asura offer a 15 second poison combo field (via Radiation Field)—etc. Same advice in making a guardian videos. Giving some suggestions on racials that might help fill a hole that the class lacks would be great—or an overall racial guide with some guidance on classes with which they may synergize. Anyway, it’s just food for thought. I haven’t really seen that done yet. Again—thanks for the vids. Keep ’em coming!

I didn’t watch more than a few starting minutes of the first one, but as I’m clearly in the minority part and loving every second of it, I’m fully supporting your message – in the right hands, Mesmer is amazing. Hopefully, you’ll finally turn our growing minority into a majority

Here is a question; for the PVE staff build, and in lower levels while leveling (before you get the tri stat pieces of gear) what stats should you be aiming for?

Also, when you summon so many clones, do you ever reserve a spot for the warlock to be out? I saw a ton of clones, but only a few warlocks through your rotations.

Is most of your damage coming strictly from conditions, and if it is, then why not put more emphasis on stacking heavy condition damage and less power?

I just hit 42 at the moment, so I’m only capable of accessing armor that is dual stat’d (wearing a full power + vit). Clones do the majority of my work and I often feel its the condition damage that does the heavy lifting in the build. I do use shatter liberally, but as you said near the end of the fight when they’re low anyway.

What is your opinion on this or could you perhaps give a little bit more clarification on the situation?

Thanks for your time.

I wish that we didn’t have limited bandwidth here else I’d love to watch your videos. I watched a bit of it and thought it was great. Keep up the great work.

I’m fan !

GREAT job et FANTASTIC review of this exciting mesmer class.

/bow

Vadnarr.5764:

Watching 3rd, I had already seen your other two. Seriously 10/10. I’ve subscribed and love how you broke everything down. You reinforced things I knew already and taught me several things I didn’t think of. Thank you for taking time to make these videos.

+1 !

great, thanks, still taught me some things although i’m lvl70!

I just want to add I found your first 2 videos extremely helpful in understanding some of the basics of a Mesmer. I was rather confused on just how clones and phantasms worked out overall and the whole shattering concepts. Putting it into a video that showed combos and uses was extremely useful for me.

Prior to watching the videos I couldn’t force myself to get a mesmer beyond level 7…now that I have a much better understanding of the basics I am working one up as an alt.

Best mesmer guide around. I’d recommend this to anyone interested in playing the mesmer. Liked, subscribed, and watching for updates!

Just wanted to throw in my <3 for these guides. While I ended up not going with your suggested build personally (I’m a big fan of the GS, esp. post-buff) I think these are fantastic guides. Mesmer is such a difficult to understand class and this guide I think does a great job of teaching people of the proper mindset to have while playing. Subscribed to your channel, keep up the great work!

Vadnarr.5764:

Watching 3rd, I had already seen your other two. Seriously 10/10. I’ve subscribed and love how you broke everything down. You reinforced things I knew already and taught me several things I didn’t think of. Thank you for taking time to make these videos.

+1

Well done, man. Realy enjoyed watching!

Bumping this topic so more people can see it; hopefully this can be made into a sticky to help the information spread.

Played with the GS post-buff now, and I have to say it definitely measured up to my expectations! I don’t know how much the overall attack speed increased for SSurge, but it definitely chains the three hits together much quicker, and it appears each attack cycle does happen faster than it did previously. I also decided to try a build less focused on the Illusions trait line and more on Dueling, and I am very pleased with the result. GS + trait that makes illusions bleed on crit + dodge roll to clone = so much bleeding! Not to mention the fairly happy DPS coming out of the sword itself, of course.

So yeah, long story short, mesmers rock and people who say otherwise are wrong and dumb.

Bumping this thread for friends who are trying out mesmer and not really sure which weapons or build to go. Detailed, straight to the point. Kudos on the efforts!

Having said that, in my honest opinion (same goes for trying out any class), try out different weapons and builds in sPvP to get a better feel which goes better with your style of gameplay. That will be the best in learning how to grasp any character class you choose to play.
This guide is tremedous help in shedding light on some of the weapons that are under utilised and you never know you may end up using that weapon more now since you understand it better.
And yea I <3 my mesmer too

I also decided to try a build less focused on the Illusions trait line and more on Dueling, and I am very pleased with the result. GS + trait that makes illusions bleed on crit + dodge roll to clone = so much bleeding! Not to mention the fairly happy DPS coming out of the sword itself, of course.

Personally I’m running a heavy dueling double sword build and I’ve been using GS since the buff until yesterday as my secondary weapon. Overall, I’d say the weapon has been buffed to be on par with the best of our choices and offers excellent offensive power on its own. However, as it desires to be as far from the opponent as possible, it doesn’t sync very well with the build’s inherent melee focus. As such, I feel that for my particular type of build, staff still pulls ahead, even if the build focuses far more on power/precision and not so much on conditions.

One other thing to note, OP: as far as I’m aware, you made no mention of water weapons in your weapon overview 0:)

One other thing to note, OP: as far as I’m aware, you made no mention of water weapons in your weapon overview 0:)

Actually he does mention the water weapons briefly in the second video. He states that the reason he didn’t go over them is due to the fact that we have 2 choices for weapons underwater. Not much use going over skills for weapons we are forced to use.

Great vids mate, thanks for making this. I was glad to see that for the most part I wasn’t missing any key points in my playstyle but I have adapted some of my play and incorporated some of your teachings

thank you for the videos. By the way does anyone know how to subscribe on this forum?

Never mind found the subscribe icon just now!

Nice stuff.

(Posting mostly so that there are >48 replies so I can re-view the rest of this thread!)

I’m about to watch the videos – based purely on what everyone is saying, I’m quite excited. Kudos, OP – people like you are why I love the human race