Guild Wars 2

Hey!

So, I am a roamer at heart, and want to roam with my newly 80 butterfly man.

I know you get these questions on a regular basis, and I watched through some of the stickied posts. Are the ones from osicat still viable, since I see the guides are a little dated?

I am really lost on this class, lol :P But I just want to jump right in to it, that’s the way I learn.

I would like a hard hitting spec, high risk, high reward. Maybe a shatter build?

Will do mostly solo roaming, and sometimes duo roaming with a thief. So something that benefit both of us would be nice (moar stealth? :P)

Thanks in advance for any questions!

Mesmer noob, Kenny

Osicat’s shatter is still a very good choice if you like high risk/high reward, and I still run it (4/4/0/0/6, S/S+staff and halting strike over mental torment). There are some videos with very skillful shatter mesmer roaming gameplays, for solo I recommend Vash and for duo Joe.

Unfortunately you may notice as a roamer that GW2 doesn’t always follow the pattern of higher risks give higher rewards. You should expect quite a bit of opponents running so called “cheese builds” (ie. condition thieves) and expect quite a bit of losses. Just need to learn condition management through hard lessons I suppose (or a support guardian buddy is always good).

Depending on your friend’s build, but I think you’re more likely to be the target when you duo roam with a thief as a shatter mesmer.

Oh and regarding your question, the current meta roaming is generally PU, whether it is condition (slower but safer) or power (faster but riskier).

When duo roaming with a thief, you sorta have to choose how the two of you want to fight.

A difficult way that also is more vulnerable to surprise group smackdowns is by both of you going very glassy. You need to be on voip and coordinate your burst to instakill targets one at a time. This can be extremely effective, but it’s not easy to pull off.

A more flexible way of going is with you running a PU build and the thief running a glassy build. In this setup, you’d be the first to engage and draw attention. The thief would then pick off targets while they focused on you.

Fay.2357:

A more flexible way of going is with you running a PU build and the thief running a glassy build. In this setup, you’d be the first to engage and draw attention. The thief would then pick off targets while they focused on you.

Not only is it the more flexible way, I would consider it the best. In “equal” 2v2 situations you often dont want to go double zerk (in my experience at least) because that means exposing your weakness rather quickly. A tougher Mesmer and a zerker Thief can use that to their advantage by only exposing one side first and giving the enemy doubts on who to target. You dont really want to to do it the opposite way (ie tough Thief and zerker Mesmer) because the Thief is plain and simple better at popping in/out and dealing huge damage. You want to use that Thief mobility and damage to catch them on the run. The Mesmer in this duo is also more suitable to be the one picking a condition build as well… Say what you want about cheesy p/d condi Thief solo roaming, it does not use the Thief at what they’re best at in a group. Although I would strongly recommend a power/prec Mesmer, because condition so kitten boring lol.

Thank you all for your answers.

It seems, also since I am a freshie on my mes, that a PU would be the best, at least as a starter. Any tips to traits, maybe a build site for me?

Should I mix my armor, like 3 pieces of zerker and rest knight for some added toughness? I have full ascended zerker trinkets on my thief which I can switch over to my mes (I switch them over all my characters, thank god for that account bound change).

The thief I am playing with is using D/P, 0/6/6/2 setup, with valk armor and valk weapons. Maybe I should encourage him to go even glassier?

And @NICENIKESHOE.7128

I know, I solely roam in WvW, be it in EB or the boarders. Not only is it enough people with so called “cheese” builds, but you will also get hunted by larger groups (at least that’s my experience as a thief, but hey.. We are hated).
So I am well aware of the frustrations as a roamer ;-)

mompen.7952:

The thief I am playing with is using D/P, 0/6/6/2 setup, with valk armor and valk weapons. Maybe I should encourage him to go even glassier?

D/P shadow arts? Haven’t seen that in a while. I’d encourage him to either go with a glassier D/P build or with a S/D acrobatics type (still glassy).

Fay.2357:

mompen.7952:

The thief I am playing with is using D/P, 0/6/6/2 setup, with valk armor and valk weapons. Maybe I should encourage him to go even glassier?

D/P shadow arts? Haven’t seen that in a while. I’d encourage him to either go with a glassier D/P build or with a S/D acrobatics type (still glassy).

glassy but rly high active defence tho! dem random evades

@Fay: No? I think it’s rather common because without SA (for added toughness and healing in stealth+condi removal) we are practically free kills. At least when we get hit between the 5+2 combo :P

But yeah, if I am gonna make the first appearance he can go glassier and pick targets off faster.

S/D evade build will most likely get nerfed (ready up yesterday. check thief forums for whine whine, lol).

Anyways, I was more interested in my mesmer, so what do I do? ^^

mompen.7952:

@Fay: No? I think it’s rather common because without SA (for added toughness and healing in stealth+condi removal) we are practically free kills. At least when we get hit between the 5+2 combo :P

But yeah, if I am gonna make the first appearance he can go glassier and pick targets off faster.

S/D evade build will most likely get nerfed (ready up yesterday. check thief forums for whine whine, lol).

Anyways, I was more interested in my mesmer, so what do I do? ^^

balance patch will hit in several months so, s/d thief for months isnt bad iguess

Any tips for my traits/armor/runes/trinkets/skills?

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNAsfWlsnpRtlqxMNcrNSrxY6Uu5ESGQBl8jqB-T1yCwAAOCA4UrA1+DgVCmSTQUlfLeAATOEA3UVRkeAKnAASBAzaA-w

Thats my variation from a PU Mesmer for solo roaming. Very high survive abillity, permanent swiftness, high amount of Condition dmg (can go up to 12-15 stacks of bleed) and nice Burst dmg to finish people off.

Hope that will help you

LG Thusad

Thank you Thusad!

Was waiting for an answer, and didn’t want to stress it.

Now I know where to start

Here’s a different roaming build you might like. It’s a lot of fun for me.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhQQNAR7ansISZa2oGupB3aGJ1IM996LJHCK5XIA-TliIABkt/QPKp+6KA4n6DFqCjOKT2RpAAPEgt0NQnSwAAIAsynLchLcdWIAzLAA-w

In general, phantasm-based builds like this are very good 1v1 but aren’t as survivable in longer fights against multiple opponents.

One advantage of the kind of build I posted when you’re working in conjunction with a thief is that you can put out very high burst. If you summon both phantasms as the thief attacks (or even summon three phantasms by using the healing signet early), you can create a high initial damage spike.

Not exactly a meta but here’s a shatter build for roaming
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNAR8flknpRtlpxINcrNCrxg6sS7MSOQAlsirB-TVSEABZqSTd7PAwFAYgDCgWKBXS53KqLwmuBHeCAkCYUhRA-w

General fast burst from distance are iZerker + mirror blade + mind wrack. Or you can start that combo with prestige to avoid being seen while doing those animations (plus the flame blast in the end can be a nice additional damage).

Here’s one I run, my shatter has less burst but more consistent damage
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNAW8clknpRtlpxINcrNipxg6yqbOSGQDlMkxB-TVSEABZqSTd7PAwFAYgDCgWKBXS53KqLwmuBHeCAkCYUhRA-w

Don’t let the staff fool you, this is actually a melee set up. I usually close in on opponent with iSwordsman + iRiposte (or counter blade), those 2 can hit really hard or waste their dodge. I use diversion when opponent aren’t immobilize but that’s not a set rule, or I can become too predictable.

Ofc you can go full zerk with it, I have a little toughness just in case I miss dodge eviscerate or backstab. Still you’ll be relying on a lot of active defenses in shatter build. A lot of kiting/stealth/distortion/diversion involved, but if you time it properly you’ll have some form of bail out skill most of the time.