Guild Wars 2

nice, 200+ replies on the thread!!

i hope this is not too off topic for this thread, but have you tried any other professions osicat? i tend to play alts to a high enough level to understand the mechanics as it makes me better with my main. i was just wondering if you had done this as well and if so, which ones did you like?

@Drederic, yeah its fun to se this thread get as many replys. I also happy the helpfull nature and open discussion that is in here. It show what a lovely community we mesmers have where new players and experienced can talk in same thread without judgment or elitism.

I tryed thief elementalist, war and necro. To understand abilitys abit better. I also spent many late nights duel guardians, eles and thiefs to learn play vs em. Still with almost 500 of my 600 h played on mesmer done in wvwvw its not alot of room for alts

I like elementalist best on side of mesmer. They can be strong in wvwvw roaming.

/osicat

Osicat.4139:

About shatter 3 and stomps, good point mate, I prob should start use stomps more but I always get the feeling of a rabbit crossing a highway when I do lol. If Its effective I always try use dmg and burst them down. That said I do stomps but with agony.

Shatter 3 is good, but if you have it you can also drop a chaos storm before the stomp. The aegis is a get out of jail free card, and better than nothing. It can even get you through it amidst a group of enemies (a lot of the time they just flee).

Of course you haven’t got the toughness or vitality you could have, so I can understand your trepidation :p

@Ross biddle, there is many ways to land a stomp, different ways for different classes. Some I agree you realy want to stomp, Warriors and guardians are examples. Still other classes I still being stubborn and claim stomp is kot always the best way to go. I even be so bold to claim that with a shatter burst build you stay alive better, get your kill and save disorsion by burst and maby kill the target faster.

So show my argument have alook at first fight in this video. By stomp the 2 first players I would need to not only be voulnebal, I would spent long cd skills and mabye even done it slower. If the 3 rd player jumped me when I bursted hes mates the aoe would ended him, same if a glass cannon bs thief jumped me there, big chance he would died. Tbh I sometimes find a 2 nd or 3 rd downed player then I do my burtsts, a thief mostly whu used stealth and I missed but died by al AOE going.

here is vid, see 1 st fight and then say what you think, stomp or burst.

/ love osicat.

ps, Im wery happy today as I passed some hard fysical tests that I worked for long time. Just felt for share that

Just a quick question from work:

Osicat, do you feel anything about the changes in the patch? I can see the forum is filled with tears, and everybody say there is hidden nerf (phantasm attack has 0,5-1sec CD before attack, seems iBerserk hit less then before etc)..

CactuS.4075:

Just a quick question from work:

Osicat, do you feel anything about the changes in the patch? I can see the forum is filled with tears, and everybody say there is hidden nerf (phantasm attack has 0,5-1sec CD before attack, seems iBerserk hit less then before etc)..

iBerserker is bugged and Anet has already addressed that a fix is coming next week.

@Cactus, phantams for us who not traited speed before behave the same, exeption is iZerker who is kinda buggy. And another thing….

Yeah…. well not sure how much I want to adress this but Anet kinda made us op in latest patch. A bugg probobly but if you hit Iduelist and a glamour field he apply…… 8 stacks of confusion and several bleeds. Its not 20% chanse to do a stack its 100%. I just tetsed this on a thief and got 20 stacks with duelist crut and MH, im no confusion mesmer but he took 2,6k dmg / tick….

Tested again. got 18 stacks of confusion by cry of frustration i duelist and 2 clones + feedback…. 1 pistol stun, 2 I duelits and feedback, let him hit jump in and hit mirror and cry…. Its op and will be nerfed but i kinda sure i can get 25 stacks in a burst and do 20+ k of burst dmg same time….

Osicat.4139:

@Cactus, phantams for us who not traited speed before behave the same, exeption is iZerker who is kinda buggy. And another thing….

Yeah…. well not sure how much I want to adress this but Anet kinda made us op in latest patch. A bugg probobly but if you hit Iduelist and a glamour field he apply…… 8 stacks of confusion and several bleeds. Its not 20% chanse to do a stack its 100%. I just tetsed this on a thief and got 20 stacks with duelist crut and MH, im no confusion mesmer but he took 2,6k dmg / tick….

Tested again. got 18 stacks of confusion by cry of frustration i duelist and 2 clones + feedback…. 1 pistol stun, 2 I duelits and feedback, let him hit jump in and hit mirror and cry…. Its op and will be nerfed but i kinda sure i can get 25 stacks in a burst and do 20+ k of burst dmg same time….

25 stacks of confusion in WvW with my build would give 9625 damage per activation.

Lols.

Nice Alanis

Its interesting to se how the Arenanet fix to wvwvw buffs work out, the 5% hp got me up to 17500~ hp and last night I felt in no way as a glas cannon, the bug/change on confusion made life hard for the enemy aswell. Did run in a 10 man team of Judge and as we have 3 mesmers in that team called target n a enemy group with al aoe that land early and 3 duelists, fast grant 25 stacks of confusion. Our necro was quite happy spread this conditions to nearby enemys and ressult was interesting.

Working a little on a groupfight video. Focus will be how to work in a smal team supported by mesmers, on te battlefield.

/Cheers Osicat

Did you try the duelist with etheral field in the HotM? Cause I didn’t seem to get 100% confusion stacks on heavy dummies (generally 2 stacks).

It seem to be if you 1 st set up a eternal field. Try feedback field, when it landed get the duelist up. If you do the opposit, first duelist then field first barrage beave strange, not sure what it do. I tryed in fractals instance later and 3 duelists got a boss to 25 bleeds 25 confusion when i did a feedback before their barrage. The whole mecanic seem weard and a little buggy, like most mesmer mecanics

/Osicat

Oh well, tried both ways (etheral field first and duelist first) in HotM and open world mobs and doesn’t get more than 4 stacks, sometimes 0, most of the time 2. I don’t know, weird buggy stuff I guess. xD

Sabyne.6329:

Oh well, tried both ways (etheral field first and duelist first) in HotM and open world mobs and doesn’t get more than 4 stacks, sometimes 0, most of the time 2. I don’t know, weird buggy stuff I guess. xD

You need the pistol trait to get 8 stacks of confusion from every pistol salvo. With the trait, however, that happens 100% of the time.

As far as bleed go, with a normal glass cannon build, and with phantasmal fury, my duelists usually produce about 6 bleed stacks per salvo.

@Pyro, thanks alot for clear that out. As both me and my fellow mesmer use shatter cat and that five pistol trait by default I forgot to point its nessesery for the combofinnisher setup. Well I guess I need to say that untill something changed its another thing making this build wery strong in compare to other setups.

/Osicat.

@ * Uppdate *@

Added a group pvp vi in the guide showing how to use mesmers in a bigger battle on the battlefield. It show what you can do if you just organice and have enought mesmers in your smal team.

/Osicat

Osicat.4139:

@Pyro, thanks alot for clear that out. As both me and my fellow mesmer use shatter cat and that five pistol trait by default I forgot to point its nessesery for the combofinnisher setup. Well I guess I need to say that untill something changed its another thing making this build wery strong in compare to other setups.

/Osicat.

Apparently Anet noticed the hubub on the forums, and it has already been nerfed. Oh well, was fun for the 3 days it lasted. At least now duelist’s discipline isn’t a required trait anymore.

@Osi and Pyro
Sneaky ~ lol
Thanks for pointing the part when portal was planted. Guess this comes with experience, just like playing chess. Think 3-4 steps ahead!

Thanks for the guide and keeping it updated.

Just a small thing if you don’t already know it, but if gold isn’t such a problem for you, you could keep a second sword for night time use with a Sigil of the Night ( http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Sigil_of_the_Night ) on it. This would give 10% extra damage rather than 5% for around a third of the time.

@Pyro, yes fun as long it lasted. For me duelist is thu a central trait for the build so will keep use it.

@ordibble, yepp good tip and I can even give a good tip how to track when its night. Get the sword skin that glow in nighttime, when it glow the dmg buff work. I dont use it so far as its messy To switch weapons al time but its deffo a interesting and valid dmg increace.

/Cheers al folwers of the guide, Its lovely to see how we can keep theorycraft and improwe our gameplay together.

/love osicat

Why’s it called cat?

@Phira, ok mate, hold on cause this will sound so cheesy… I named the guide “Shatter Cat” as to make this style work you need to be agile as a cat, no brute force here

@ All, Been messing around with sigils latley, cost quite a few gold but I did a few days run with bloodlust and now im back to the 5% dmg thu.

I also picked up Ordibble,s tip and he will have a honnor spot in the guide for the 10% dmg bonus nightime combined with glow on night sword. Same as Amayasu have a honnour spot in the guide for “Rune of Air”

As you notice ppl the guide is under constant work and I will uppdate it with every patch etc. Stats and gear recomendations will change in the future if its beenficial to the guide, like the defensive stats added 2 weeks ago. TY you all for help me develop this.

/Love Osicat

Which sword skin glows at night?

Also Osicat, could you do a video of yourself slowly mousing over every piece of gear, jewelery and weapons to show all which pieces are which and the stats/orbs you use?

I know you mentioned overall stats but just curious if you have the time.

Xavi.6591:

Also Osicat, could you do a video of yourself slowly mousing over every piece of gear, jewelery and weapons to show all which pieces are which and the stats/orbs you use?

I know you mentioned overall stats but just curious if you have the time.

Yes please!

@Xavi and Dook, I sort that in the end of next video, np.

About the sword skin that glow in dark : http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Royal_Ascalonian_Sword

ofc I use berserker stats instead.

Btw, as we have a great deal of new players from time to time asking for advice for lvling etc I been thinking if I should start lvl a fresh mesmer from lvl 1 using shatter spec. Just to try it out and be able to give good advice and mabye even a mini LVL as a shatter cat guide What do you ppl think, would it be any interest or is it trivial persuit.

/Osicat

@Osicat – I’ve been watching the video’s and I must say that I really, REALLY like how your mesmer is setup, and the traits / etc. are really good.

You’ve labeled this as a WvWvW build, but can this also work well in PvE and in Dungeons?

I’m currently a lv 27 Mesmer, and have been liking the class thus far. I would just like some tips on the best way to play.

@NerdyMike, Ty for ask this. Yes its deffenetly working in Pve and dungeons even if you might need to adjust the skills and weps from instance to instance. Especialy the fractals its a solid instance for this spec in my opinion. There is a few instances I had problems due to weard mecanics. One is the nightmare flower one where the flower on floor + aoe close give huge problems as mele dont work and staff buggs out.

For this I suggest this, if you do instances bring a greatsword to replace your p/s for some fights, also learn to alywas carry a focus as it sometimes is beneficial. Also learn to experement with utility talents. Acalonian crypts thief boss get totaly neutraliced by feedback on hes “pull ppl close and aoe them” for example.

The spec have some corner traits that give it alot of its potensial thu and at lvl40 dodge = clone will give you a huge jump in overal gamestyle. Also lvl 60 illusionary persona who is the cornerstone of the whole spec.

Also Experement!!!! always experement and you find new ways to do stuff. This is what bring this class forward, ppl try stuff out.

/good night now, Osicat

To anyone leveling with this spec….it really don’t work well until level 40. For PVE the dodge on clone effect is actually more important the IP for the spec imo, although it definitely feels more powerful after level 60 too.

Until 40 you’d probably have better luck with GS/staff.

Is MW damage nerfed?

Today has been an absolute joke. My MWs are hitting for 800-1000.

@ Yukishiro, yes If I did a lvl guide, test with a fresh it would be with staff gs from start, but shatter focus. That would prob be how guide would look. Example lvl 1-20 wep setup x, attack setup y and traits z, lvl 20-40 blabla, etc. Just checking, would this be of nterest for anyone?

@Volatility, Il test it in a few hours but last night 7 h ago about it was normal, had a 4k mindwrack crit for example. I be back with more data later.

/Osicat

Leveling guide would be of plenty of interest to me. My mesmer is L30 and looking forward to 40. Plus, with a standing guide on how to level, new players will be encouraged to try this class and play it well. Which will translate into better or more skillful mesmer population in the end-game.

@Phanstern, I started work on it today, plan is to start get a 1-60 video guide Focus WILL NOT be a step by step lvl fastest possible (ala 1-80 surper fast) but how to in a smooth and fun way play shatter mesmer on the different parts of the game. Wep setup, utilityskills and traits. Also a little about tactics etc.

Focus will be Pve and it will be a Side Project to my normal videos and guide. Will keep do the wvwvw etc just that I on spare time work on the other part.

/Osicat

Osi, any chance you would list your exact equipment in the main post? You mention some recommended minimums for some stats, but I would love to know exactly what you’re wearing and / or total stats. Are the stats in your build link accurate?

Volatility.6729:

Is MW damage nerfed?

Today has been an absolute joke. My MWs are hitting for 800-1000.

Don’t believe so, I do around 2.5-3-5k, when I play my style with shattering, also I have +77% critical damage, but only 38/39% to crit, depends on WvW points etc. I run without food, and I haven’t upgraded to superior and only run rare sword/pistol, but I usually have no problem facing 1v1, or 1v2, only today with an engineer.

Hopefully I can get superior runes soon, so I can do more damage, will be intresting, only have a little gold, reason why I run with rare sword/pistol, is that they cost so much now, hopefully I will get some great exotic loot, soon when I return to play PvE events in cursed shore, very busy with school tests and WvW, crushing the enemy 350k points xD compared to 150k and 110k

@Wtbingbongbadbeer, First, who ever did make up your name mate, for a semi dyslective person like me its torture to type lol <3. The stats in my build link is the sPvP stats, the defensive recomended stats in the guide is the minimum defensive stats before you start work hard on your dps. Reason I been so hard give my exact gear etc in recomendation is cause its due to change quite often. The guide and spec is under constant develop and I experement ALOT.

What I type in the guide thu is things that after hard and long testing I found as accurate best possible setup with the spec and gamestyle.

I will thu here list my exact gear for the moment as I get alot of pm,s etc about it aswell

:Power 1912
:Prec 1992
:Tough1180
:Vit1092
Condition dmg 325
Crit chance 55% Staff 53%
Crit dmg: 98% Staff 102%
Armour 2100
Health in wvwvw 16842 (with server buff 17852)

Head : zerker + air
Shoulder: Zerker + air
Coat: Knight + air
Glowes: Zerker + air
Leggs: zerker + air
Boots:Valkyre + Air

Staff: zerker + energy (50% energy on swap)

Sword: Zerker + 5% dmg
Pistol: Knight + Fire Aoe

Back: Guild backpack lvl 60 (saving fractal stuff for back form there) lvl 60 Ruby jewel
Trinked 1 : Zerker +Ruby (3% crit 25 prec 25 power) jewel
Trinke 2: Event trinked (25 al stats 3%crit) + zerker (3% crit 25 prec 25 power) jewel
Ring 1: Invader ring + Ruby (3% crit 25 prec 25 power) jewel
Ring 2: Zerker ring + Ruby (3% crit 25 prec 25 power) jewel
Nec Valkyre nec + Ruby (3% crit 25 prec 25 power) jewel

@Volatility, tested and no nerf as I see it. Had a 4 × 3,8k MV with fury and mightstacks earlier wealding staff.

Hope this help ppl.

/ Cheers Osicat

how much difference makes 2100 armor compared to 1861. When taking damage from enemies?

Seeing your gear makes me think, did I select the right gear etc. I found my gear settings, but not complete due to lack of cash

@UnknownFreak, This is the current gear I run with, I tryed alot of different setups and have alot of gear in bag to switch. Both full glass cannon and tanky setup (If you interested in tanky setup with shatter cat spec there is a movie guide).

The setup I now use and listed work extremly well in my oppinion as it both give a superb burst and a little passive survival. The core for this spec is acctive defense but there is a few siuation the extra armour help. First when ou cap camps, the npc,s combined with a defender will keep a steady dps on you and its immpossible to avoid al incomming dmg as if you pull back and reset cd,s etc risk is that more defenders come and fight get so long npc,s start to respawn.

Another time a little armor show is vs non burst ranged classes. This is mot pur biggest problem as you generaly kill a ranger, Gs mesmer or riflle warrior in any 1 vs 1 situation, but when its a 1 vs x or 5 vs x the steady dmg income get hard to migate and you want to save immunitys for incomming bursts.

Also for portal attacks the big aoe going around it help.

The latest patch have given me a big passive health boost and I might dropp a valkyre gearpeace for another berserker, but 55% crit is enought and I have bigger need of more crit dmg so not sure I will.

The hp from valkyre in my gear is to handle conditions.

I sure ppl can get the spec and other shatter specces to work with other gear setups, both tankier or more glass cannon, what I losted is my personal setup that I after loong time in wvwvw smal group or solo roaming found work best for just this gamestyle.

/peace Osicat

Was wondering if you ever used any condition damage gear with illusionary retribution and master of misdirection to maximise on the confusion stacks you get when you shatter. will end up with a little less burst, but might be fun with the extra control. Might not be worth it either though.

@Sinergy, as for go condition as dmgbase for the spec/gear I feel it as a ressult demand a longer fight and a more constant preassure to be effective. This as a ressult demand more passive defense as the In dmg zone time be longer, it dont work with the juking
( in do dmg, immune enemy dmg out, in again new burst and out to avoid etc) the shatter cat is based around.

As for the extra confuison stacks in t burst situation The spec already apply those. Its not uncommon to have 12 stacks on confusion on a enemy you just bursted down to 20% hp. As you in this situation also have 8~ stacks of might who give bonus condition dmg he have no chanse to acctive react to you.

The 33% confusion uptime is not worth 3% dmg / clone, 50% hp = shatter reset in ,y opinion.

I dont say condition dmg is a unviable way to go, I know for sure some ppl use it with sucess, I just feel that for this gamestyle heavy burst, strong survival and condition as a controll and bonus dmg work better. Its also is a bit more flexible och dont have a hardcounterd in wvwvw (condition spec get har countered by condition necro), closest is that we have problem get a tank elementalist down (can still be done if he do some misstakes and you know what to look for, had several good fights vs one last night) but in wvwvw you often have the canse to move the fight or get backup. In sPvP you have that cap point to get as score keep ticking.

/Osicat

Oh, and on a technical note… After today for some reason I cant watch any of your videos from my phone any more. I don’t know if you changed any settings on YouTube recently or not… Is anyone else having this problem?

@Sinergy, its a youtube music company thing, think its cause the adverts for itunes to buy the songs I use dont work or something.

Anyway, there is a workaround, try to simply click the play on the tubnail picture in this forum thread on the vid you want to see. Dont go to youtube or click the link if you on phone.

when vid start in forum mini pic you click maximice symbol.

/Osicat

Kk thanks a bunch

@Sinergy, np mate.

@ The ppl pm me about thiefs, best help I can give atm is reccomend my latest thief video, it cover alot of good tactics.

gl, and if anything unclear pls ask in the thread so more ppl can take part of the suggestions/advice.

@ all, Interestingly last days roaming I have more and more bomped in to classes I havent seen so often on my smal group or solo raids. Several guardians and some realy skilled. This is refresshing change from al the elementalists and mesmers I fought last weeks. Hopfully ppl experiement with new classes and setups and we in the future will see a more mixed wvwvw roaming scene.

Guardians is a interesting enemy in wvwvw, the good ones are hard to crack but for anyone struggeling I have some tipps as I feel I counter them sucessfully.

1 Portals and movment, they realy dont like when you blink, staff blink portal etc around.

2 Burst dmg, they are like dimonds, a steady preassure on them and they wont brake how hard you puch. But if you slam a dimond with a hammer enought time it suddenly crack and turn into dust. This is how my guardian fights usualy look, burst- notthing and i move away, in burst – nothing and i move out burst – dead.

3 remember to look at their boons, dont use pistol iduelist if its a block up, use some other spell 1 st to drop it.

4 mix conditions and burst. 12 stacks of confusion hurt them.

Thats al I have to offer for this morning. Im of to sleep now as I worked a 24 h shift. Il answer any questions 2 night thu when Im awake again.

/Love Osicat.

ps, seen alot of new players in the mesmer forums last days, leat al take care of them and make them feel like home.

Hey Osicat, just wanted to say thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience. I’ve got a Ranger, Warrior and now finally a Mesmer all geared out and I have to say I’ve enjoyed the Mesmer the most after following your guide. Still need a lot of practise but I’m really liking the burst and control that comes with your build.

I went full glass cannon though and still die quite a bit, maybe it’ll help me learn to be more active in my defensive skills down the track. It cost me about 40 gold all up to gear up with full berserker gear, trinkets, weapons, runes and sigils!!

@Jubei, Im sure you destroy suns in that gear Happy you like the vids and guide, even if it is alot of work maintain it I enjoy it alot. About full zerker I went that way to, its good as it give you a benchmark to start from.

I also tryed the opposite with wery tanky gear ( have a vid about the alternative build/gearing) but found it less flexible. Atm im a wery high crit dmg setup with some defensive stats for camp capping and to fight ranged steady preassure classes (Rangers, warriors gs mesmers).

Experement al you can and if you get some great storys from your roaming kittenter mesmer feel free to share them. I give you one here.

*Me and another shatter cat mesmer was hiding by the rock wall that is located betweeen west tower and garrison in borerlands. Suddenly a Arbonstone mesmer dropped on ou head, took 90% dmg by the fall and got knocked ower, we killed him with a auto attack adn stomped, then 2 more cam, same thing but we dint have time to stomp before 2 more, shatter downed those and then 1 more… this continued untill we have a pile of 5+ dead, and 5+ in downstate around us, we sang

“It’s raining french, Hallejulah, It’s raining french,Amen ,It’s raining french, Hallejulah ,It’s raining french, Amen”

over team speak and had the time of our life untill the whole arbonstone zerg came landing on our head, by then we noticed al was from same guild and I cant imagine the chtter they must had on their comms*

/ Osicat

Uppdate***

Added a alternative link for traits and skillpoints, this as some cant see the default editor.

/Osicat

osicat have you tried a condition/shatter build with full rabid exotics?

first I played a full berserker 10, 30, 0, 0, 30 shatter build with gs-s/p, it was a lot of fun and rewards good gameplay with almost godlike 1vs1-1vs2 abilities.

after that I tried rabid condition shatter build and it is a different gameplay (you almost can’t die, even while drunk) but the dps (still very good) is lower and the burst can vary between 20k in 2 seconds to 5k :\
taking down fleeing enemies can be tricky too.
on the other hand you can take on 3-5 people (full 80) and kill them slowly but steadily and taking a fortified camp is easier^^

now im switching between those two builds to get fresh air in the wvw experience now and then.

just posted this, because if you enjoy shatter power/crit build you will certainly enjoy confusion shatter build also.

whatever, keep the shatters comin’!

Osicat can you please give me a general guide to leveling? I’m new to guildwars 2 and would like to use your build to familiarise myself with this game

@Grimmson, I accualy have tryed it even if I havent been full gear, its deffo a valid gameplay and there is two major reasons why I in the end did chose “shatter cat” as my major gamestyle. Tbh I tryed every single specc possible for wvwvw I think lol, the amount of hours I roaed borderlands and latley eternal is kinda silly but I still love every moment of it

The first reason I found “shatter cat” to be most effective is due to the flexibility, you do a health amount of condition dmg ( 325 is my base but often in burst situations I have 8 stacks of might, thats (8 × 0.375 * Level + 5) = 280 + 325) 600 condition dmg the seconds confusion is but at best 12 stacks. So you have a good way to handle guardiands etc. same time your aoe bursts from shatters make it extremly effective for hit and runs in wvwvw, I can drop a portal, blink in a group, do havoc and portal out, heal and then take same portal in and stomp ppl. This make the spec perfect for solo and smal group roaming.

The second is that it compared to condition dmg spec dont have a hard counter, yes some specces work better vs the spec but a condition removing/eating spec do not shut it down.

Also, in my opinion i need to build more defensive passiv as the acctive defense would not be enought when fight dragg out.

This dont mean I say condition is unviable, totaly opposite, some players like Taldren and others run this and what I undertand with great succes. I just say that in the team I run with in wvwvw we do alot of smal group burst attacks, with 2-4 mesmers chaning time warp when needed, warrior, ele 2-4 thiefs guardian and some others a shatter build is more usefull.

@Neko, I working on it, it will take time thu as im lvling a mesmer for the guide. There is some good threads with extremly lovely and helpfull players in this forums thu who give good tipps. <3 mesmer community.

/Merry monday Osicat

Ok, then what would my starting combo be? like weapons wise, im level 7 so i got weapon switch but I dont know my normal rotation