Guild Wars 2

Ok so I have 3 80s. One is a ranger who was shelfed mostly for now except pvp stuff. My Guardian had been my mains for awhile as I loved support and helping the group while doing my thing. Throwing out boons (especially stability) on short cooldowns and reflects when needed was nice while face tanking and healing through stuff.

Well my wife had been a mesmer and when she gave it up, I took up the role. I LOVED the idea from the start but so did she so I let her have it. Finally getting to play it myself I found myself loving it.

However I’ve also found some issues with it I’m trying to get past … or seeing if they are even issues that I CAN get past. I like being mostly melee but its nice having ranged options with decent ranged attached to them.

I’m having trouble with some builds and what I bring to the table compared to my Guardian though. I know I have time warp but I’d like to be more than that. Reflect I can do a fair amount IF I trait into that line which I can back and forth on.

I’ve tried to run a phantasm heavy build of 20/20/0/25/5 but I feel phantasms die fairly easy and they feel like my only source of damage. When I saw obvious tells I’d mind wrack to get some use out of the pops.

In duelist I have picked up phantasms have fury and blade training .. went back and forth between that and evasive clones.

I’ve also tried various shatter builds which I might actually like more as I feel better with popping phantasms so long as they get one rotation off if I need to and phantasmal persona.

Plus shattering feels more interactive then just popping phantasms and hope they surive. I can’t tell which does more damage either … though I feel strong phantasm build probably does, especially if two iWardens get going …

However I also want to do something for our group that isnt just Time Warp. I’ve though about staff over GS for defensive plus chaos storm boons and clone sta kitten bouncing boons …

Anyone that does pve and fractals have much luck with shattering? Or using staff over GS?

Our group comp is currently
1 Damage warrior
1 Necro
2 Ellies
1 – Whatever I choose to play of Guardian or Mesmer.

Thanks if you read all of this.

The problem with relying on iWarden is that it’s A. melee and B. stationary, so it has problems with getting blown up in a lot of fights. Phantasms that keep some distance between themselves and their targets (Sword or Staff for single target, GS for AoE) tend to survive much better in fractals.

I only tend to use iWarden in situations where it’s anti-projectile abilities are important and there’s a relatively low amount of melee around, for instance the imbued shaman fight, harpies in uncategorized, or some spots in dredge.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Guide-PvE-Supporting-Phantasm-Build/first

I have a full PvE/fractals/dungeons guide and build written up in that thread. Read through it, and it should answer a lot of your questions.

I like this build (the build on the first page, not the later one).

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/OP-Phantasm-Mesmer-Build-Fractal-Dungeon/first#content

I’m not sure why it was removed from the stickies.

^^^^^^
awesome build :O

expecially for fractal/dungeons

2 weeks ago i struggled staying alive with shatter mesmer at fotm 30……with that i do 48 without any problem….

Phantasm don t die so fast as it seems……and the short cast means you can replace them soon.

Expecially iWarden seems to survive a lot because its placed behind opponent often…also you need to keep them in place with iLeap (followed by blurred frenzy)

But you can also change focus for pistol or sword and just change focus mastery trait with glamour duration….

The phantasm build above is actually the one I had been running and having issues with the phantasms (aka my damage) dying. I feel like shattering is much less effective in this build but still do when I can.