Guild Wars 2

Hey guys I’m new to the whole PvE thing, have never really left PvP or WvW in all my time as a mesmer (too long ^^) , would be great if you guys could show me some dungeon build caz i really have no clue. i was using a shatter build but am not really sure its best for the whole stack meta it seems it be. I’m gunna be doing higher level fracs and most dungeons, any builds or advise would be great. thx

I’m sure others are going to chime in, but I thought I’d offer my 2cents:
If you haven’t already, check out this list of builds

I’d suggest roaming through the PvE builds and see what matches the play style you’re looking for.

The standard dungeon builds are 10/30/0/20/10 or 0/30/0/25/15. Trait for damage or cooldown reduction in every place. Take III in Domination, II, IV, XI in Dueling, II and VIII in Inspiration, and III in Illusions. As an example, see: http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQRAsd8cl4zqqnSTkGaNJxJFMf5oKgdSFUdpH8G3yG-jACBYfDim8DkIAmKIQZmFRjt4qIas6aYKXER1BBMK-e The 10/30 build does slightly more damage (3-4%), but the 0/30 build gets 25% faster cooldowns on phantasms. I prefer the 0/30, but this is up to taste— 0/30 is probably better in pugs where you won’t be insta-killing bosses.

Your gear is full zerker with scholar runes or ruby orbs (go with ruby orbs for now or wait till April 15— the best runes will change then).

Your weapons are sword/sword and sword/focus. Sword autoattack is your best source of damage, so you’ll always be using it in your mainhand. iWarden reflects when traited, so it is absolutely critical to bring along a focus. Focus 4 reflects as well and can pull enemies to interrupt or bunch them up. iSwordsman is the best damage you can get from a phantasm, with the lowest cooldowns, so the offhand sword is also super worth it. The sword-4 block is also your single highest source of damage, and should not be neglected (and can be used for a daze in a line if necessary).

Your skills should change depending on the situation, but most of the time you should run what the link above has (Mantra of Recovery, Mantra of Concentration, Mantra of Resolve, Feedback). The idea with the Mantras is to stack as many as possible— each of them gives you 4% extra damage because of Empowering Mantras. Feedback is the real killer application of Mesmers— if you use it right, you can completely reflect back all the projectiles a boss throws out and really nuke them. This is even better than Wall of Reflection from Guardians, and the main reason Mesmers are useful in dungeons— Feedback is just that good. You can do so much more damage with a good Feedback than with your other skills. In situations where you don’t need reflections, though, slot out Feedback for other skills— Null Field for boon strip or more condition cleanse, for example. Don’t be afraid to get rid of mantras if the situation calls for it (sometimes you need blink for mobility, or you need Signet of Ether to get two iWardens out immediately).

These are more or less the best builds at the moment. With the April 15 patch, things may change a little since Phantasmal Haste (Illusions X) will finally be fixed. But the weapon choice/armor choice/ utility choice will stay the same.

sirrealist.1360:

I’m sure others are going to chime in, but I thought I’d offer my 2cents:
If you haven’t already, check out this list of builds

I’d suggest roaming through the PvE builds and see what matches the play style you’re looking for.

I would be very wary recommending this list for PvE. None of the PvE guides seem to list the correct current builds. (Even colesy’s is out of date, since I know he runs the 10/30 I listed above)

The only thing I’d like to add to that is considering how things can often go wrong whilst pugging, you might want to switch to Ether feast if you’re not confident about the encounter and only switch to the MoR only when you’re confident about it.

Also, when no reflect is needed, just run any other mantra and switch to pistol instead of focus.

And worse comes to worst, slot a Phantasmal Defender there. I sometimes do that when doing fractals and most of the pug-team decides to range Old Tom.

maxinion.8396:

sirrealist.1360:

I’m sure others are going to chime in, but I thought I’d offer my 2cents:
If you haven’t already, check out this list of builds

I’d suggest roaming through the PvE builds and see what matches the play style you’re looking for.

I would be very wary recommending this list for PvE. None of the PvE guides seem to list the correct current builds. (Even colesy’s is out of date, since I know he runs the 10/30 I listed above)

Thanks, and my apologies for misleading.

sirrealist.1360:

maxinion.8396:

sirrealist.1360:

I’m sure others are going to chime in, but I thought I’d offer my 2cents:
If you haven’t already, check out this list of builds

I’d suggest roaming through the PvE builds and see what matches the play style you’re looking for.

I would be very wary recommending this list for PvE. None of the PvE guides seem to list the correct current builds. (Even colesy’s is out of date, since I know he runs the 10/30 I listed above)

Thanks, and my apologies for misleading.

No problem, it’s a great list for just about everything else

xallever.1874:

The only thing I’d like to add to that is considering how things can often go wrong whilst pugging, you might want to switch to Ether feast if you’re not confident about the encounter and only switch to the MoR only when you’re confident about it.

Also, when no reflect is needed, just run any other mantra and switch to pistol instead of focus.

And worse comes to worst, slot a Phantasmal Defender there. I sometimes do that when doing fractals and most of the pug-team decides to range Old Tom.

This is also very nice advice.

iDuelist with pistol does more damage than iWarden, but only to single target. It’s often worth it to keep the focus for iWarden to get better splash damage on mobs. iDuelist is great for bosses that don’t need reflects, though.

xallever.1874:

The only thing I’d like to add to that is considering how things can often go wrong whilst pugging, you might want to switch to Ether feast if you’re not confident about the encounter and only switch to the MoR only when you’re confident about it.

Also, when no reflect is needed, just run any other mantra and switch to pistol instead of focus.

And worse comes to worst, slot a Phantasmal Defender there. I sometimes do that when doing fractals and most of the pug-team decides to range Old Tom.

Untrait your focus and toss on the sigil heal for old tom.

maxinion.8396:

xallever.1874:

The only thing I’d like to add to that is considering how things can often go wrong whilst pugging, you might want to switch to Ether feast if you’re not confident about the encounter and only switch to the MoR only when you’re confident about it.

Also, when no reflect is needed, just run any other mantra and switch to pistol instead of focus.

And worse comes to worst, slot a Phantasmal Defender there. I sometimes do that when doing fractals and most of the pug-team decides to range Old Tom.

This is also very nice advice.

iDuelist with pistol does more damage than iWarden, but only to single target. It’s often worth it to keep the focus for iWarden to get better splash damage on mobs. iDuelist is great for bosses that don’t need reflects, though.

That’s true. That’s why generally you might want to use Sword + Focus for your Perception/Bloodlust stacks simply because of the iWarden cleave.

That would soon change with the next patch, though. It’s happening so soon you might as well only have one Perception/Bloodlust sword.

Pyroathiest.4168:

xallever.1874:

The only thing I’d like to add to that is considering how things can often go wrong whilst pugging, you might want to switch to Ether feast if you’re not confident about the encounter and only switch to the MoR only when you’re confident about it.

Also, when no reflect is needed, just run any other mantra and switch to pistol instead of focus.

And worse comes to worst, slot a Phantasmal Defender there. I sometimes do that when doing fractals and most of the pug-team decides to range Old Tom.

Untrait your focus and toss on the sigil heal for old tom.

Oh. That’s the trick. Yeah, I’ll definitely do that the next time.