Guild Wars 2

Update

New Video 2013-06-18. Enjoy, no guide, just general fun and some serious trolling.

/Osicat

Interesting, how did you use portal so quickly in that first portal stomp? Looks like you popped back and forth pretty much instantly!

And from pausing the video it looks like you start the stomp, then drop portal, then use it…..I didn’t think this was possible?

Edit: Never mind, you just dropped portal and started the stomp very quickly Had to look again to see it.

@UnknownFreak, thanks for the advice! I’ve been playing a lot more WvW now and I made some successes. Running around in zergs all the time becomes boring after a while.
I’m back to staff, since I now see how it works and appreciate it!

I’ve just accepted the fact that I’ll die a lot before I become much better :-)

@Tom van Leuwen, I also get tired of zergs, I usually take a break or do some pve/solo something hard, just to get feeling I’m still able to control my skills. And taking breaks is the best way to cool down from annoying enemies. I still need to learn to slow down my shatters.. I shatter almost all time, to get damage fighting like crazy but I never seem to be able to do good larger group fights.

That’s my next step. Learn alot more when enemy uses “Dangerous” attacks and not evade the low damage attacks. I’m taking it slow, and I find it rather Ok. And I am still looking for my small group roaming. I do not like big ZvZ fights. I can handle them, but they seem to end quickly, for that size. Flanking and sneaking is my style

My best sneak was a T3 (1700 supply) keep with 7 ppl (3golems).

@All followers of the guide.

I wont produce any new videos for a few weeks, 2~. This as first the patch hit and I will spend energy on min max my builds to have them up to date. As always I want to test and retest things several times and next patch give ALOT of things to test.

Also next weeks My vacation start from work, so have some trips to do on the motorcykle and also some traveling to do.

I will keep post in the guide when I have a computer close by thu and as always answer questions best I can.

/love Osicat

Can I ask what sort of motorcycle do you have? ^^

BMW f650 Gs, but saving for a 800 gs Adventure. No meaning to have a bike if you cant drive on al roads, I ride alot on gravel roads or forest roads aswell as asphalt. Have done 10 000 km so far this year and of those 4000 is on gravel or offroad.

Osi

Sounds like a wicked adventure! Have fun & be careful.

Osicat what do you think about the Scepter in WvW after this Update? Two Clones after each Autohit ending? It is a Illusion production now better then a staff?

Yea it would be nice to see a reworked Scepter/Torch condition build, Apparently Prismatic Understanding is awesome now.

is it true that shatter builds wil be nerfed soon?

Pwnzor.5682:

is it true that shatter builds wil be nerfed soon?

Everything about Mesmer’s will be useless if the crybabies get their way

itiinco.6702:

Osicat what do you think about the Scepter in WvW after this Update? Two Clones after each Autohit ending? It is a Illusion production now better then a staff?

From my understanding this was a bug that has since been fixed. I could be wrong though.

@All

So far only done 1 evening of testing. So far Im wery exited for the shatter cat builds. If we ignore al bad that happened versus the different alternative “non shatter/non phantams” or pure phantasm builds we have a wery good situation.

The shatter cat heavy with the now fixed Staff bounce mecanic in combination with some gearchanges I show later and 2 trait changes is a monster. Was destroying in both wvwvw and spvp al evening last night,

I also tetsing some wery cool stuff with scepter, the 2 clone is/was a bug but the setup there is now we might look at a totaly new shatter cat build to replace “Shatter Cat Original”.

I keep you updated but this patch was wery interesting. Saldy im off on my vacation (well sad for my gw2 gaming but fun for my biking and fishing time) on sunday so only a few days ti test new stuff.

/Osicat

i realy dont understand why that there are kids allways asking for nerfs etc. kitten .. just keep al those possible builds :o

Update

Had some time to sort a vid from tonights guild run. Its experemental gameplay with a Mass daze build. Had alot of fights tonight and general the build was amazing, kept enemy from res / stomp + when I later got a hang of it did a impressive amount of dmg for a support build.

We had several G v G who I dont post here but same ressult, fantastic controll good dmg and 25 stacks of might often.

/Osicat

Said it before, Osicat, but I don’t mind repeating it. Your efforts raise the entire class up. Thanks for putting so much time into and then sharing what you’ve learned about running a Mesmer.

Hey Osicat after many updates and patches the sword mechanics has been altered, i personally love using the shatter cat hybrid build but how would you adjust the build it comes to a point where my friend and i are tired at looking for “alternatives” because each patch seems to alter it more and more…

hey Osicat, you were a great source of inspiration for me in the past.

I’m really surprised you use mass daze build. I ve tested it, and i find this type of build really useless in WvWvW, near every warband use buffs before fights, and they are almost permanently under stablity. so for me mass daze build appears useless even with a lot of necros or mesmer debuff ae.

Like PH Law i search a way to play my mesmer with fun after this patch but i m disapointed by the daze alternative…

Ps: tyvm for your work for the mesmer community, your vid are always good. i apology for my poor english.

Kwaz ( mesmer )
Vizunah Square

@Chat, as a solo in a group the daze build dont offer alot. It was mostly a test of new abilitys but wont and is not in any of my builds connected to shatter cat guide. Still I found it extremly effective in a special situation, I used the build in our 10 vs 10 GvG and it totaly messed the enemy guids resses/ stomps up. We spammed nullfields and boonstrips early. As soon ppl was down on both sides I started mass daze /interupt.

Next real change in the shatter cat guide is a update to Shatter Cat Heavy 2.0 from the patch. Found some ways to make the build even more devastating in terms of dmg.
We realy got some strong buffs to shatter builds in latest patch.

/Osicat.

osicat? will this work as build? for wvw zerg, dungeons etc? http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAW7dlwzqqHVzmGa9IhJFDH5nUQdpj6x1r+3B-jEzAocAcGMSDiCARLgJSA5wioxWfLiGrSGQzgpSXUtHhRrWIgJrBA-w

i dont wanne waste money to try it so i ask a pro mesmer :p

Pwnzor.5682:

osicat? will this work as build? for wvw zerg, dungeons etc? http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAW7dlwzqqHVzmGa9IhJFDH5nUQdpj6x1r+3B-jEzAocAcGMSDiCARLgJSA5wioxWfLiGrSGQzgpSXUtHhRrWIgJrBA-w

i dont wanne waste money to try it so i ask a pro mesmer :p

@Pawnzor. If you truly want to test out a Condition build and its effectivnes I would do some minor changes to your setup.

1 Drop blindning = confusion and drop 33% confusion uptime.
2 Get bouncing attack + 1 bounce.
3 Get shatter reset at 50%
4 Change runes to undead toughness = condition dmg
5 change food to condition uptime food.
6 Drop the nulification sigil, you already have 2 condition drops, get sigil of battle or 5% crit chance instead.

Last of the changes, consider to get the interupt = might 5 stacks, its wery good extra condition dmg with your already high igjt gain from shatters.

This is only my opinions and not the utter trouth but as you ask me you get what I think.

Gl.

/Osicat

Osicat.4139:

Pwnzor.5682:

osicat? will this work as build? for wvw zerg, dungeons etc? http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAW7dlwzqqHVzmGa9IhJFDH5nUQdpj6x1r+3B-jEzAocAcGMSDiCARLgJSA5wioxWfLiGrSGQzgpSXUtHhRrWIgJrBA-w

i dont wanne waste money to try it so i ask a pro mesmer :p

@Pawnzor. If you truly want to test out a Condition build and its effectivnes I would do some minor changes to your setup.

1 Drop blindning = confusion and drop 33% confusion uptime.
2 Get bouncing attack + 1 bounce.
3 Get shatter reset at 50%
4 Change runes to undead toughness = condition dmg
5 change food to condition uptime food.
6 Drop the nulification sigil, you already have 2 condition drops, get sigil of battle or 5% crit chance instead.

Last of the changes, consider to get the interupt = might 5 stacks, its wery good extra condition dmg with your already high igjt gain from shatters.

This is only my opinions and not the utter trouth but as you ask me you get what I think.

Gl.

/Osicat

dont know if i try it; but i’m going for commander tag. and i’m using your shatter cat heavy 2.0 but the most told me that that isn’t a good build for a commander. so i dont know what to take

I just wanted to thank you, Osi, for an outstanding job on promoting and showing much love to the mesmer class. =) Keep up the great work – look forward to the continued updates (and awesome music selections!)!

@Pwnzor, Heavy 2.0 keep you alive, its give good utility to your team and with the extreme mightstacks you can also add sigil of buff em all to share. My opinion its a good commander build just for the simple reason you dont realy die in the build, and a dead commander is a dissaster.

@Isakura, chers, it warms.

/Osicat

Hi Osicat. Newb Mesmer here.
Was wondering what you felt about using 20/20/30/0/0 with sw/t and staff to take advantage of the stealth buffs.
playing it like your mist 2.0 build.

is 30 I illusions a must for that style of shatter Mesmer? Also is sword allot better than scepter still? Since the minor Nerf.

Thank you for any advice.

Osicat,

Amazing stuff Osi Would you mind giving me some comments on my build? Went 30 points into chaos for both bountiful interruption and staff cooldown. Can’t seem to live without it hah.

Am also leaning towards a more tanky build (more as a personal preference really). My real struggle is whether to give up the staff cool down trait to go 30 into illusions

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAscWlwzyqHTzoGb9IipH9mvhcoUAeZXJF82FC-jkyAYLBRSUgICgpvsmAHiYFsIasabMlLq2FQFrILDAzCA-w

Howdy Osicat,

I’ve been looking over heavy 2.0 and noticed you mentioned some possible changes after this last patch. Can you expand a little and give us any more hints what you were discovering?

As always, thx for sharing all your tips & tricks!

@All, still on a vacation so I cant post vids or sort my build updates in a few days. Instead I dig dirt and gravel on my bike atm and gettin a sunburn. Back with updates for buids etc in 4-5 days.

@Boom, Incomming

Untill then, enjoy this, made a tear come to my eye watch http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gDqWHx6xhgU

/Osicat

Hi All

Back from Vacation. Been lovely but feel good to be back aswell. I promiced you a update to my builds. First out are the new imporved Shatter Cat Heavy 3.0.

The updated post patch verison of my most popular build. Its tweeked for better group combat abilitys without give up solo and duo gameplay dmg. The rule is, the build get stronger the more enemys your fight and the longer the fight is up to 10+. After thakittens at max strength but personal preformans have lesser value and survival + group dmg get more important.

A extremly flexible build good for the romaer aswell as the commander of a group.

http://tinyurl.com/Heavy-3-0

Enjoy

/Osicat

Just tried this new 3.0 heavy build and I got to say…………..pretty sweet build dude. Thanks.

I was doing the same rune/sigil thing awhile ago with a condi shatter build but it works even better with the tanky crit gear.

Kudo’s to you sir.

interrupts and celestial necklace huh, can’t wait to try it out

had a skirmish with some of your guildies yesterday evening, but without you (cause i live to tell the tale).

2 Questions for you:
1. to support a guild group of ca. 15, which of your builds do you suggest?
2. are the ascended items necessery or what would you use when exotic (cause with several chars i have to optimise the costs)

@Shadowresil, A Shatter Cat Heavy 3.0 with portal nullfield and " share the boons" signet, is extremy strong froup build I found out, you do good group dmg, focus give mass interupts and 25 might stacks, when alot of boons up share the might etc to team, focus give a speed boost abiliy for team. Also you never realy die, so no free rallys for enemy team.

If not that build I would go with Shatter Cat dmg and support, the gs build.

Acended help as there is no exotic chavaler gear. If not accended I would replace al chavaler with knight..

/Osicat

Thanks Osicat!

I notice you generally have the same core skills in all of your builds (portal, decoy, blink, mass invis). I occasionally replace portal with feedback or null field. I’m thinking I may start swapping sig of inspiration in there every now and then too.

I know it is really depends on the situation, but which skill do you find is the most comfortable to replace with one of these other ones when you are running around?

*edit: just saw "portal nullfield and " share the boons" signet"
wow – I know you like portal but replacing decoy & blink for nullfield & sig of inspiration seems like it would really cripple all of that mobility I’m so use to having.

yeah, but see it like this Boom. In solo/duo team your survival is on your personal skill and utilitys. In a group of 10-15+ your survive is more based on your group (if you like me run with good players who regourp, heal etc) utiltys etc. So blink away from your team is contraproductive, to decoy is unnesesery as your enemy know where your are (in mid of your team) whle porlat is a team skill. Null field is both a offensive (drop stability of enemy etam is a GvG is fantastic) and defensive (clear criple and vurnability form your team is a must), Share boons, well if you sit on 25 stacks of might, regeneration, protection, ageis and fury why not give it to your team

/Osicat

excellent points.

thx

Testing Condition build

Osicat is staff still viable with the recent nerf to chaos armor?

Staff is Viable as ever, phase retreat still is one of our best mobility tools in game, chaos storm is a bless and fact is Im not as sure chaos armour got nerfed, overall I have 2-3 proced chaos armour from staff phase retreat and sword leap for every staff nr 4 chaos armour. Consider Blind now is working, and you can get protection form the proced chaos armour I look at a buff more than a nerf.

I gave Heavy 3.0 a try yesterday, and so far, I am quite impressed. Thank you, Osicat!

Regarding the patch:
My gear is not complete so far – too much of a glass cannon still. However, didn’t feel any squishier after the patch than before. Actually, I was a quite successful today. Even in outnumbered 1v2, 4v6 and ZvZ situations. I am new to this build/setup, so I might be mistaken, but from my feeling, Osicat seems to be right: It is actually a buff, not a nerf, at least for those who have 15 points in Chaos.

Thanks for your answer, now my messmer can also enjoy WvW

No, at least not yet. I just got inspired by some threds in the forum and wanted to try my condition gear who collected dust sens glamour nerf. So I setup a 20-20-30 build, tweeked some and tested 3 different sets of sigils untill I found one I like.

As its not a pure shatter build and I not realy tested it etc like i do with my guide builds I have not setup a build/guide for it. Not yet alteast.

See it as a experement

/Osicat

gotem.5284:

Osicat.4139:

No, at least not yet. I just got inspired by some threds in the forum and wanted to try my condition gear who collected dust sens glamour nerf. So I setup a 20-20-30 build, tweeked some and tested 3 different sets of sigils untill I found one I like.

As its not a pure shatter build and I not realy tested it etc like i do with my guide builds I have not setup a build/guide for it. Not yet alteast.

See it as a experement

/Osicat

Just came back to the game from a long break and the only gear I have is condition. I tried your other builds but without the proper gear I find myself struggling. I have a full carrion set for condition damage and no clue how to spec with it. For the 30-20-20 are you doing 30 illusion / 20 dom / 20 chaos? I don’t mind if it’s not an optimal build currently just looking for any condition spec to mess around with.

When he says 20/20/30 he means 20 Dom / 20 Dueling / 30 Chaos. The recent buff to PU in Chaos has made it very powerful for survivabilty, so a lot of people are putting the torch in condition builds now.

I’m trying to put together a condition build also, but I’m struggling between the torch and the pistol off hand. Those bleeds from pistol crits just seem so good.

Still the condition clear from torth skills make conditions in many situation a non threat to you and PU make the direct dmg to you extremly low (protection agis up so often). A personal favorite it to summon image, start torch blind/stealth, swap to staff, stay close to enemy and wait 2 sec for boons, then chaos storm on staff and just as torch 4 blast finicher on enemy do a shatter.

/Osicat

Hey Osicat, can I assume your OP is up to date? or do I have to go through these pages?

Builds updated 7/7, still shatter cat original is little out of date but working on. Just alot of work to update al builds while they send in paches taht change the game every week But yes, I constantly update the guide.

can also see

http://osicat.weebly.com/index.html

/Osicat

Osicat.4139:

Hi All
First out are the new imporved Shatter Cat Heavy 3.0.

I really enjoy this setup and I am working on improving my equipment.
I have some questions regarding the stats, if you don’t mind.
I played around in the build editor a bit, and I can up with an alternate equipment: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAsdWlwzyqHTzoGb9IiJF9mvh6B4ldfXJF82FC-jEDBYLCikIBiIAM5BJ7BI9JrJQRsCqIasqaCxabYqYR1MuIa1yAwsAA-w

Nothing special, it is mainly your Heavy 3.0 with some changed items.
Breakdown:

-71 Power
-1 Precision
43 Toughness
+31 Vitality
+81 Condition Damage
+81 Healing Power
(8 Magic Find)

Would you consider this a worthwhile trade-off? Or do you think, I’d give up to much power? What stats would you aim for?

If you just exchange the helm in Heavy 3.0 with a Knight’s:
-13 Power
+3 Precision
+45 Toughness
-2% Crit Damage

Would this be a good idea, or is are there a values for crit-change,
crit-damage and toughness?

Thank you!

Hi Osicat, brilliance build I must say. Can I ask if Heavy 3.0 is viable in a large ZvZ battle?

I’ve seen your video in WvW group battle, but your mesmer doesn’t tag enough enemies in a ZvZ fight. Any advice for this?

Thanks!

@Herb, Both look viable builds, personaly I dont feel I need more toughness or condi dmg, I working on get power up and buing power infusions to al my assesorys. Also why I love the mightstacking. The condi dmg I get is 350~+ might. so at 25 stacks I hit 1k.

Toughness I found the magick point to be at 1650, this + health let me survive the worst burst even form a team if I just use my utilitys etc correct. Preci should be high on my sword and so it is, 47% with food crit chanse.

@Delson, I often fight in mid of mig enemy zergs, my main issu at that point is not to tag enought but to survive the fight and not give them free rally If you want range zvsz thu shatter cat support/dmg might be your build.

I play in a 12 man team but we hit what ever we find, often kamikaze style. I get a big amount of loot thu so tagging is not a issue even if I dont care for loot as you seen im my vids

Uppdate

Nev vid. Group combat in shatter cat heavy 3.0. Enjoy!!

/Osicat