Guild Wars 2

Hi all,

I asked these boards a while ago what profession I might like to play the most, based upon a set of criteria centered primarily around ranged. Someone suggested a GS/Staff Mesmer. I toyed with the suggestion, and honestly, since the profession is so blasted unique, I thought I’d give it a go.

I’m only at 15 or so, and find I’m struggling to play at range. Any tips on builds/skills/traits/tactics for a ranged GS/Staff Mesmer would be appreciated!

Thanks!
Oy.

I would put first 5 points into Illusions to get minor trait Illusionists Celerity"Illusion-summoning skills recharge 20% faster"

All so keep plugging away as Mesmer is hard class to play pre-30/40 ish. Once hit 40 it because a lot easier due to class traits adding so much to play.

I’m struggling to play at range. Any tips

Can you perhaps elaborate on the kind of difficulty you’re facing?

If you’re an Asuran (or show yourself to others as one wink), then a nice trick is to run Radiation Field. Gather up as many mobs as possible, do a Staff 5 —> Weapon Swap —> Radiation Field —> Greatsword 4 —> Greatsword 3 —> Greatsword 5

As a mesmer it is fairly difficult to level as pure range, as you miss the punch to kill mobs before they reach you early on. That’s the reason why I have chosen a combination of ranged and melee in my leveling guide.

When you are getting close to 80, things change though, and you might want to give a look at my “Go Go Power Ranger Build”, which can be found in my signature… ^^

Get decoy. It helps fill in the gaps while kiting in PvE. It’s a great skill all around.

Moddo.7105:

I would put first 5 points into Illusions to get minor trait Illusionists Celerity"Illusion-summoning skills recharge 20% faster"

bad advice. it works only on summoning skills in utility slots. don’t affect summoning skills on weapon skills.

about gs/staff as ranged option.

in general gs is no good if you alone, as mobs will run close enough and you will have reduced damage. there are exceptions like slow moving ones – veteran oaks.

staff is no good for single targets (because its waste of aoe and overkill), and i really don’t consider ir ranged weapon, as its most effective when you and victim both stand in chaos storm.. which makes you in melee range.

tl;dr imo ranged mesmer is bad idea, atleast gs/staff one.

Saulius.8430:

Moddo.7105:

I would put first 5 points into Illusions to get minor trait Illusionists Celerity"Illusion-summoning skills recharge 20% faster"

bad advice. it works only on summoning skills in utility slots. don’t affect summoning skills on weapon skills.

You are wrong, the tooltips are just broken, it works perfectly fine. Watch the timers…

I think it works okay! I start with the great sword and use attack 3 then 4 then 2 and switch to the staff and use 2 when it’s close (or 5 then 2 in some cases).

Don’t remember the names of the attacks …

Saulius.8430:

Moddo.7105:

I would put first 5 points into Illusions to get minor trait Illusionists Celerity"Illusion-summoning skills recharge 20% faster"

bad advice. it works only on summoning skills in utility slots. don’t affect summoning skills on weapon skills.

about gs/staff as ranged option.

in general gs is no good if you alone, as mobs will run close enough and you will have reduced damage. there are exceptions like slow moving ones – veteran oaks.

staff is no good for single targets (because its waste of aoe and overkill), and i really don’t consider ir ranged weapon, as its most effective when you and victim both stand in chaos storm.. which makes you in melee range.

tl;dr imo ranged mesmer is bad idea, atleast gs/staff one.

I’m going to have to disagree here. GS/Staff is very powerful and can decimate groups of mobs. It’s a power build weapon set with an emphasis on phantasms. Not as popular due to how fast illusions get killed but it still has its place.
The staff is, IMO, the best single target weapon in game. No damage reduction for shorter range, bouncing attack between you, allies and target. The bouncing attack can be traited for 4 bounces. Each attack buffs you and puts dots on your target. This means while standing right next to your opponent you can have chaos armor up from staff 4, chaos field with blink gives you more chaos armor, any glamor field and phased retreat from in it for even more chaos armor. Chaos armor is arguably the best defensive armor in game.
The more I play Mesmer the less I see it as a ranged class. The only true ranged weapon is the GS. Staff is just better at close quarters. To play how you want, all ranged would be GS for almost all your attacks switching to staff only to use it as a defensive weapon and to summon the iwarlock. So in the end…. I agree that a full ranged Mesmer is a gimped Mesmer.

I would use the greatsword as an offensive weapon, and the staff as a defensive weapon. I.e. when you are low on health, cast Chaos Storm/Armor on yourself to get swiftness, retaliation, aegis, protection, or regeneration, while using the illusions from staff for Distortion or Diversion if you are desperate. Then switch back to greatsword again for the attack.

Illusions are what makes you survive in PvE, so get Illusionists Celerity at level 16, and Deceptive Evasion at level 40. These two traits improves your illusion generation a lot.

For a long time I played a phantasm Mesmer build, prior to a lot of the tweaks and changes to the class and the skills used months ago, and utilized it as a strategic long-ranged caster profession. Throwing down phantasms to tank, defend, distract and take a hit, all while using GS #1 from afar (where one gets the best damage on GS #1). I ran with sword/pistol and GS or sword/focus (for the pull, swiftness, and cc mostly) and GS. I didn’t use shatters often, only when it looked like my phantasms were about to die or when I had more clones out than phantasms and my phantasms were ready to be recast anyway etc.

It worked well for a time. I think it’s tougher to be a phantasm ranged build these days, though. At least with the expectations that your phantasms can do consistent damage + survival while lacking precise aoe in many cases. I think you can still try for something like it, though, for PvE and some Dungeons.

For a good pve build using greatsword and staff, take a look at my phantasm build: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Guide-PvE-Supporting-Phantasm-Build/

It uses gs/staff with a focus on survivability and phantasm damage. Right now, I don’t have anything in that thread that adapts it to leveling, but I’ll update the post a bit later with the specifics for how to use it as a leveling build, which it does very well.