Guild Wars 2

Hi Osicat,

I love your mesmer Shatter Cat Mist build but I ’m unsure of the clothes, trinkets and rings etc to purchase to create the same build, will you be posting a more detailed break down on this Shatter Cat Mist build anytime real soon?

Kind regards.

Johnny aka Veles Iris

@Johnnyg : You’ll find the gear setup at the beginning of this yet again awesome vid from Osicat

***Uppdate***

I get alot of questions about the Mist spec, more and more ppl wonder how it work in bigger fights and not only 1 vs 1/ 1 vs 2 combat.

Made a video of the spec in Group combat situations.

Enjoy

/Osicat

Your usage of portal is just amazing. And we’re moving so well, it’s always a pleasure to watch your videos.

May I ask what traits you run on your builds? Your tinyurl build links seem to be dead.

Hi Osicat,

I love the guide and had a question about the shatter cat mist spec. Do you find that it has enough burst damage to deal with classes like a skilled d/d ele in a 1v1 match? They seem to out heal my damage when I’m playing the shatter cat mist spec (granted I’m new to the play style). I’ve seen your video on fighting d/d eles and timing your burst after they use water. I was just wondering what your experience has been.

Also I was wondering what you thought about using a shatter hybrid spec with portal, decoy, and blink or a (10/20/10/0/30) with blink on lower cool down and either (I or III) in the domination trait line. I love the play style of the shatter cat mist, but am having a difficult time letting go of the high burst damage. I’m looking more for a solo or small group roaming spec that can survive in a 1v2 or 1v3 match and be adaptable to 1v1 duels as well.

Thank you for your time and the amazing guides.

@Flowers, just tetsed the links and al work for me, try again Mist build : http://tinyurl.com/cyjj4c4

@Raiz, I do feel so, even got a staff guardian with accended gear and defensive speccing down in a duel other day. I duel alot fo D/D,s and I must say the change to leep (6 sec cd) is a fantastic tool. Its most often the whole reason you win vs a d/d, u land your immobilices. Thing is they have alot of healing etc but not many cripple brakers, so you milk those out of em, and justa s they turn form water attunment you cripple again and burst.

10-20-10-0-30 sould reasonable hybridich setup, try and tell how it worked for you.

/Osicat

Just want to bumb the amazing videos Dustslinger doing for the Engiforums. Been helping him on find good conters and he brakeing down the mesmer skills.

/Osicat

hi osicat,

just have one more question, couldn´t see if there are video guides for the Shatter Cat Condition build?

thank you again
avdima

great vid. again : )
i had nice fight against cond. engi today .. i was capturing point and he appeared after i cleaned whole trash … i had to use portal to get away and recover ( that elite supply is rly strong ) .. after it dissapeared i forced him to run away XD … couldnt catch him .. i dont have swiftness runes since im using cond. build … great fight

however do u have some advice how to fight against cond. engies ?

thx
cheers Xixsa

@Chipmunko, as drakeco mention in the end our duels are wery even, hes beeing noble when he say I win more tham hin I would guess 50/50 even if soem days are better for me and some better for him.

To fight condi ele you want reflections, it totaly make their head in as alot of their hits are ranged. The 2 big confusion stackers are mele and instant thu so be ready to immune in mele range. The pull need to be dodged after u got tagged by the line.

Thats 3 good tipps.

/Osicat

I just want to tank u for all the awesome vids and info in this thread. I have literally read every page and watched every video at work on breaks and home.

I am a new mesmer kind of. Was my most played toon in spvp the first month but stuck to PVE where my ele and thief were already 80.

I have a Dd ele and a thief. I have done well with those toons. Im very bored of the ele. Thief not so much but ive always wanted to level mesmer after my spvp days at launch. Finally did it this week.

I am going to start with the shatter heavy build. Seems more forgiving to start. But i want to gear more for the normal since once i get things down i will switch to that. I run in small groups of 2-5 people with thieves warriors and eles. We hit and run fast and hard so i cant wait to run both builds.

Thx again im off to blow some gold on exotics.

@Uppdate, last morning the normal oaming I do in smal team was impossible due to heavy zerg puch on Gandara, what else to do than strap on Glamour, join the few friendly forces we had and fight to death

/Osicat

Any of these builds viable for dungeons/fractals?

@Mobilejunkey, The phantasm hybrid is fantastic in dmg point of wiev for Dungeons and fractals, so is the heavy/mist but they do a little less dmg in trade of some better survival and support (more chaos storms). Pesonaly I use Mist with more zerker gear and for some bosses a GS with great ressult.

The condition build do less dmg in my oppinion and not as viable for dungeons.

/Osicat

The first day or 2 after reset I usually avoid Wvw. Im on JQ so our tier zergs the best. Sigh..

Usually impossible to get into small skirmishes. It can be hard to a lot of the time. Ita been worse sunce they added the ranking. Thats why i took the break and time to level mesmer.

My buddy was 1v3 with his ranger friday before the reset so im pumped to get in there with my mesmer today.

I just need to craft a pistol another sword and 4-5 pieces of gear. If i dont have the mats for armor ill use some karma til i grind cof or wvw badges.

I have spent a lot of gold on this toon craft leveling and gearing. Lol

I was a little confused on the ascended amulet u listed for shatter original. You put V. I assumed valkyrie. I got the Godrock one. Seemed stats were closest. More zerker tho with only 18 vitality on shard.

@Osicat: th vm for tips … bdw i just found another way how to deal with that engi pull + pry bar combo .. if there is no bombs around him … cast scepter block twice ( cuz im cond. spec. ) it blind his pry bar so he miss ..

Whenever I’m running the shattercat build (20/20/0/0/30), I have one main issue while roaming in World vs World … conditions. It can also be an issue in large fights.

Anyone else run into this issue?
Anyone have solutions for this issue when running the shattercat build?

@Sebrent, there is two easy ways to inprove your existing spec to handle coditions better if you feel you have a need for it.

1: Change food to -40% condition uptime, 70 vitality.

2: Change staff signet to signet of generosity.

I use both when I duel condition players or I feel there is a lot of condition roamers around atm. Still in the Mist spec the mobility give you a fantastic protection versus condition players.

/Osicat

Uppdate

The Youtube guide just hit 1010+ suscribers. Ty alot for your intererest, I do my best to keep provide interesting mesmer updates.

/Osicat

I know I’ve been pushing for testing more uses of Mantras by Mesmers, but…

Since you have the 20/20/0/0/30 and the 0/20/20/0/30 specs and your playstyle could be described as a form of “jousting” (get in, burst, get out, repeat), have you thought about trying a 0/20/0/20/30 build with Mantra of Recovery and Mantra of Pain?

Mantra of Pain would allow for even more burst damage as you can Shatter + Blurred Frenzy + Power Spike x2. Cycling Mantra of Pain and Mantra of Restoration would allow you to heal more while “getting out”. You’d also have the benefit of being able to take Mender’s Purity to help against conditions.

Have you tried this? If so, thoughts? Experiences?

If not, please think about trying it :-) You have a higher APM than me and I’m curious what you could do with this.

@Sebrent, cant get myself to like mantras, I like the instant cast but the acctive rechargching dissrupt the flow of the fight. Also to switch in a mantra of pain I need to drop another utility, in my opinion even with high dmg a mirror immage is bigger burst dmg utility + a stunbraker than mantra of pain for example.

Still I sure mantra can be viable, I just dont like the style.

Uppdate

Podcast with Osicat: http://sittingonacouch.com/the-gw2-mesmer-podcast-mesmerized-ep-3-osicat-the-shattercat-mesmer/

/Osicat

Understandable. I had avoided Mantras like the plague after BWE#3 (I was done trying them by that time), but have picked them up again with some pretty good success.

I’m not sure I understand the interrupting the flow of battle as when you’re running out of range, it is a perfect time to channel them. That is why I thought they might do well with your build since you “joust” people.

While mirror images is more burst, Power Spike is several magnitudes harder for an enemy to avoid and on a much shorter cooldown (even after you include the channel in that). Since good players are becoming quite adept at avoiding Mesmer shatters, it seems to me that Power Spike might be a nice way to inflict some near unavoidable spike damage. An instant cast with no animation and 1,200 range is pretty difficult to avoid ;-)

I cant seem to remember or find the answer.

Does shatter cat original have more swiftness uptime? I am loving heavy but even with runes of air, staff blinking and util blink i fall behind the group farther than id like. Usually run with eles theifs and guards
I know i wont keep up with the thief or ele but would like to stay vloser.

Ill have to watch ouy of combat movement vid again too.

hi osicat!
very nice guide, competitive and skill intensive build! thank u!
i have a question for the heaavy/mist build.
do u have thought about consider rune of rage (http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Rune_of_Rage) for a bigger burst damage and for have some fury that mesmer can’t easily get?
or the rune of dwayna (http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Rune_of_Dwayna) to benefit of the second passive trait in chaos that grant protection when get regen for an highly survivability (15 sec cd of trait is very bad i know)?
rune of lyssa (http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Rune_of_Lyssa) is nite too with the mass invisibility but i see it for a condition build not for a burst shatter

avdima.2846:

hi osicat,

just have one more question, couldn´t see if there are video guides for the Shatter Cat Condition build?

thank you again
avdima

I would also be interested in seeing some condition mesmer guide videos. Particularly the burst applications of confusion.

Here’s Shadow Cat Mist as described in the guide (I think).

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/mesmer/?4.1|c.1g.h17.c.1g.h1|6.1g.h8|1g.71a.1g.71a.1n.71a.1g.71a.1p.71a.1g.71a|2v.0.2v.0.3v.0.2s.0.3s.0.cg.67|0.k4a.k3a.0.u36b|39.7|33.3a.3d.34.3o|e

Here’s as close as I could get without Ascended gear which might be useful for folks just starting out.

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/mesmer/?4.1%7Cc.1g.h17.c.1g.h1%7C6.1g.h8%7C1c.71a.1c.71a.1g.71a.1c.71a.1g.71a.1c.71a%7C1n.67.1n.67.1n.67.1n.67.1n.67.cg.67%7C0.k4a.k3a.0.u36b%7C39.7%7C31.34.3d.3a.3o%7Ce

@All, been a little absent latley due to work. Back now.

@Pizzel, Mist is tthe fastest, iyt can outrun most opponent and keep pace with frienlys. A fdocus in bag solve fails with blink aswell for long travel.

@Boni, Lyssa is great and use for my support/glamour setup sometimes even if for full glamour I use undead. The other 2 have extemly interesting setups. Sadly we stuck with Air/centaour to be viable in wvwvw due to our lack of a class on demands swiftness. Its one of the few “non flexible” things with mesmers.

@ZudetGambeous, will see what I can sort in future. I made the glamour vid recently, might intersest you:

@Lanny, ty and cheers

/Osicat

Im at work and having trouble finding the difference between heavy and mist. I see u use the shorter cd heal but from the vids cant see any other difference.

What page if any lists differences between heavy and mist? I think it was in one of the middle pages of this thread.

Also is there no variation that uses focus? I do switch it in to keep up but it gets tiresome switching it in and out over a long session.

Pizzel.8470:

Im at work and having trouble finding the difference between heavy and mist. I see u use the shorter cd heal but from the vids cant see any other difference.

What page if any lists differences between heavy and mist? I think it was in one of the middle pages of this thread.

Also is there no variation that uses focus? I do switch it in to keep up but it gets tiresome switching it in and out over a long session.

Switch first major trait in chaos to “shorter cooldowns for manipulationskills” = More blinks ( i think)
I miss “/equip xxx” from wow, if Only anet was’t so against macros.

Erifin.8423:

Pizzel.8470:

Im at work and having trouble finding the difference between heavy and mist. I see u use the shorter cd heal but from the vids cant see any other difference.

What page if any lists differences between heavy and mist? I think it was in one of the middle pages of this thread.

Also is there no variation that uses focus? I do switch it in to keep up but it gets tiresome switching it in and out over a long session.

Switch first major trait in chaos to “shorter cooldowns for manipulationskills” = More blinks ( i think)
I miss “/equip xxx” from wow, if Only anet was’t so against macros.

When i got home i saw the differences. I like it. I had been using the mirror heal already. Shorter cd and with all the shatters hardly got that heal bonus.

With lower cd on decoy its definetly useful. I may just situationally use portal and keep mirror images. Ill play around with that slot.

Hi there.

I have mixed feelings about my Mesmer I am currently specing as the Shatter cat Hybrid spec, but I do not know if I want to stick with this one or go with the heavy spec line.
Do you run with a legendary weapon? and if so which one?

I feel with the phantasms currently die in one or 2 hits before I have a time to detonate. are there any tips?
I watched your videos but I was wondering to get the max out of my clones/ illusions what should my rotation be for the hybrid spec? I have gotten the hang of popping decoy plus sword leap to get 3 up right away but that leaves me to having to switch again to my staff once my decoys are down? am I not playing it right?

What should I Open with using the hybrid build? Does it get better the higher I get? Currently level 35. Any answers would be great. Thank you much

@Varzul, To the last question, yes it get better. As soon you hit 40 you will regenerate so many clones you dont need to treat your phantasm with so much resspect. 1 hit is totaly fine, its a hybrid build os thought is to get a big punch out of te phantasm then shatter it. Also as its a hybrid for some situations you can use the phantasms for supressive fire or just build preasure. For some bosses you can have 3 up and do superb dmg.

To get maximum effect out of a hybrid spec you need to play it as flexible and situational as possible. Its only weakness is some survival but that can be balanced with gear and reactions.

Opening, see start of the burst here, but again situational flexibilityis best:

/Osicat

Ahh ok, well thank you for the reply I appreciate you getting back to me, most people don’t keep up with there posts I will watch that video. Also you didn’t mention a good Legendary weapon to use ? Any suggestions?

Hi Osicat,
Thanks so much for the build. I’ve been using it in sPvP (first time I’ve played pvp) because I haven’t got the money to buy all the gear I need for wvw. I’ve found the build to be give me a headstart in many match ups. For a beginner I’ve been able to land some good kills against other beginners.

From yesterday’s experience I want to ask how you deal with classes with a lot of stun breakers. It seems that I’m relying a lot on sword3 +swap to land my full burst accurately and moderately good players know this and will break stun as soon as they see it. In particular, enemy GS mesmers and condition engineers counter me quite badly by escaping and keeping at range.

I’ve adapted by trying to land a few stacks of shatter2 confusion if I can’t immobilise them (partial shatter hits) and chasing them with my duelist and pistol5 skill. Then I swap to staff and keep closing with them with chaos armor until I can land a good shatter1 when sword pistol skills are up again.

What other alternatives do I have?

@Varzul, legendary is maily looks, take one of the weps you like to use, then go for legendary. Personaly I would do anything sor a proter Rapier sword, in my oppinion the perfect mesmeer look is of the musketeers with a dual Rapiers or rapier/pistol.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y213/chopper20000/TheThreeMusketeer-TheQueensDiamonds1973.jpg

@Glitch, The stunbraking is not the main problem with the two classes you present, its the controll. In 1 vs 1 situation atm in spvp (not wvwvw) a phantasm mesmer is among the hardest enemys you can face, another extremly hard is the condition/burn enginer. Lucky not many fights in spvp is true 1 vs 1unless you set up a duel. In the messier normal situations you have so extreme mobility you can dance around in the chaos and focus this two classes down. For shatter GS mesmers its just about build preassure and stay close. They dont want you close so be close to them, juke out when needed only.

In a 1 vs 1 situation the best you can do is range juke, use your daze alot and immobilice after. You mention of experementing with shatter rotation show you took the fighting a step longer and thats fantastic, now next time try start with a daze shatter, hit leap and shatter, then stealth, spawn a phantasm and leap again. Rotate your shatters in mixed orders.

Also use LOS to leap around objects, can catch even the best player in suprice this way.

Hope it help a little, bets way is find good dueling partners of classes you have problem with. Also remember the differences between wvwvw and spvp, some builds are due to gear scaling and mecanics stronger in spvp than in wvwvw and some are it reversed. Phantams mesmer is one of those.

/Osicat

ty so much for the advice osicat. I need to utilize my daze more so as to land my burst. my map knowledge is also poor.

btw, I’ve read through 19 pages of this thread and your english has improved so much! congratulations!

sorry for the question, but what means “LOS”?

like you said here: Also use LOS to leap around objects, can catch even the best player in suprice this way.

ty! i really appreciate your guides and ideas!

@Avdima, LOS=Line of sight. Good example is to get a smal house between you and a enemy, he can now not shoot at you. your clones and phantasm hit him, then you cast a leap at him. The clone will leap around the house, then you swap and blink to him do a burst.

@ Uppdate @*****

New Video. Some of the common moves I use facing Thiefs in 1 vs 1 situations. dodge/leap/blink into the HS, participate the moves to dodge things you dont see but know comming. Enjoy

Build is Shatter Cat Mist, vs the shortbow p/d thief I use a focus.

/Osicat

Hi Osicat,

Been trying out the new shatter rotations and I have a question about shatter rotations in the 10/30/0/0/30 vs the 20/20/0/0/30 builds

In the 10/30/0/0/30 build I generally see you shatter1 then 3 then 2 in the basic burst. I’m guessing that’s because the might stack you get from 1 and 3 increases the condition dmg for confusion for 2, making the target unable to strike back.

But in the 20/20/0/0/30 build (with rending shatter) , which creates stacks of might as well as vulnerability, does it make sense to burst with shatter 2, then 3, then 1? My logic is that building vulnerability combines better with shatter 1 than shatter 2.

I tried starting out with a daze shatter a few times, I found it works best in those messy situations where my clones are everywhere (sometimes I have no idea where they are) and they charge in at different times.

@Glitch When I used the 20/20/0/0/30 build I used that rotation. It really is better to use 2, 3, 1 to get might and vulnerability to pump up the dmg of Mind Wrack. Now I use 10/30/0/0/30 build and I miss those vulnerability stacks lol.

Osicat.4139:

Im at work in middle of a 24 h work shift so cant check the game but Im 99,999% sure this is the setup I use

My keybining is a bit adjusted idd, im sure you can use what binds you like to get the build to work, I just use the one I have as i find its the fastes way to press buttons

In short. I use mouse for al looking and turning. W forward S backward A and D is straif left and right. C is look backvars instantly. weapon skills:

1: q 2: e 3: r 4: mouse 4 (button on side of mouse) 5: mouse 4 + shift. Heal : space + shift, utility 1 : Q+shift, utility 2: e + shift, utility 3: r+shift Elite ? f+shift.

shatters is on 1 2 3 4 .

Found this keysetup let me use al abilitys without ever click, can tab targets and use left hand for most stuff, al turning is by mouse and hold mousbutton down.

My dodge is on v or hold donw mouse 1 +2 and dubbletap direction.

Hope this help.

/Osicat

hey Osicat,

thank you so much for these guides and videos, they help me a lot!
mesmer is my first character, i started with knowing nothing. i read through your guides and watched your videos times. every time, they make me know how amazing class mesmer is. now i really love it. thank you so much.

as i dont play really well, i tried to look for a keybining which can help me a little. i tried yours, it is really good and after i got used to it, i feel i play better.
but there still is still some problem for me. i realized when i hold W down to keep running forward, i can not use any still skill which keybined as Shift+X, i have to stop pressing W, use the skill then keep run. also if i try to heal myself while running, after i push Shift+Space, i can not jump anymore. do these happen to you too?

thanks a lot again!

Ucaton

@My Sweet Lily

Thanks for the confirmation. Glad to hear from more experienced mesmers.

@Ucaton, no havent experienced that before, I often straif left or right same time as I use utilitys etc, especialy cased ones like phantasm or mass invis you realy want to be moving while cast.

@Jackums, 2 things to take into consideration. If you use a GS you want more survival stats than if you do if you use a Staff so not realy a problem. Also you can chose to use pure Berserker accended amulets/earring than the one who have +18 vitality to compensate some lost precision. Swap 2 zerker + 18 vit for 2 pure zerker and you go 36 + prec – 36 vit. The extra toughness I tink you might need.

/Osicat

@Ucaton. I use alt+.. instead of shift+.. Think its easyer with my handshape. You can also hold down w, press alt with your thumb and som other key with point or ring- finger.

I just have to mention…

Glitch.4207:

It seems that I’m relying a lot on sword3 +swap to land my full burst accurately and moderately good players know this and will break stun as soon as they see it.

Stunbreakers won’t help anyone to escape Sword 3, as it doesn’t stun. It immobilizes. I really wish stunbreak would help against immobilize haha… I died so many times just because of it, it’s not even funny.

On top of that, I don’t see myself getting stunned very often… or maybe I just don’t really notice. Seriously, immobilize is what bothers me. I don’t care about stun; I’ve never (at least not intentionally) used a stunbreaker to break stun.

I’m really enjoying the shatter cat mist build, even just in pve, and would like to play around with it in spvp (just hotjoin for now). Is this a viable build for spvp? If so, which runes should I go with? Keep in mind I am a new player, old, and thus slow

@Dognuts, It work wery wery well for spvp I noticed, change runes for divinity or the one who shorten condition uptime (melo… something), use powerstack sigil, 5% crit chance and fire aoe.

This setup is totaly lovley for point flipping and roaming in spvp. You be like a shadow of death and most ppl take aonther target to try focus down when they cant catch you.

/Osicat

I love your guides so much Osi, learned a lot about mesmer from reading them

Currently i’m trying out mist build and i really love it for it’s mobility, versatility and survivability. Though i must ask you, lately on Gandarra most of the fights in WvW were with zergs, not so much with small roaming teams and i tend to find myself using GS more in those situations for long range nuking. Otherwise i get eaten away by the zerg wave, aoe’s and conditions on the front lines

also 20/20/0/0/30 is better with gs, for domination GS trait, but i prefer mist build.
however, as i like to play with gs every now and then, i’d like to ask you which alternative weapon set would you recommend for it? Staff od sword/sword?

do you by any chance use some different builds with gs?

tnx again for great help to the entire community!

Awesome guide – thanks.!

Just played against you (2v1, you being the 1) in WvW – your build is insanely hard to beat, I’m busy leveling a mesmer so I’ll be using your build soon. Maybe then I can take you on again :P