Guild Wars 2

In HoT, do we shatter illusions even if we’re not a shatter build?

Like, would it be effective to shatter illusions even if we’re not a shatter build rather than just keep them up(which gives them a chance to die) for the extra passive damage they do? Cause apparently in the Twitch stream a week ago, they said that it’s not a healthy way to play and they WANT us to shatter illusions. Does this apply to non shatter builds as well?

Apparently this is the direction they want us to go forward. All mesmers (regardless of builds that focus on shattering or not) must use their shatters, or in Robert Gee’s original words “maintain a good shattering cadence”.
This means lazy shatterers like myself will have to adapt.

I wonder if one trait will allow the rewind shatter to also respawn the illusions you shattered – possibly master of fragmentation. There might still be options

keenlam.4753:

Apparently this is the direction they want us to go forward. All mesmers (regardless of builds that focus on shattering or not) must use their shatters, or in Robert Gee’s original words “maintain a good shattering cadence”.
This means lazy shatterers like myself will have to adapt.

Yeah, but I’m one of those people who never shatter until the very end of the fight, due to the clones being able to obscure people from hitting me. Besides wouldn’t shattering when you’re not a shatter build lose you more damage than if you didn’t shatter at all, and have clones and eventually up to 3 full phantasms up at once?

Shattering is not just about damage and I think with having IP base line now a lot more people will start to realize that.

Milamberr.1705:

Shattering is not just about damage and I think with having IP base line now a lot more people will start to realize that.

Yeah I know, it’s also about evading and interrupting as well, but that doesn’t really change the fact that if you’re not a shatter build and you shatter, it won’t be as effective, right?

StormHawk.9862:

Milamberr.1705:

Shattering is not just about damage and I think with having IP base line now a lot more people will start to realize that.

Yeah I know, it’s also about evading and interrupting as well, but that doesn’t really change the fact that if you’re not a shatter build and you shatter, it won’t be as effective, right?

That has traditionally been the case, but I think the idea behind some of the recent changes (especially the one that reduces Phantasm cooldowns when you shatter them) is to ensure that build which rely on Phantasms for DPS, finishers, and reflects will be able to maintain good Phantasm uptime even if we choose to use shatters.

I think they meant that clone death builds were not healthy (and let’s face it, it was equally boring to play with and against). But phantasm builds on which you rarely shatter will still be viable, and lockdown builds will probably perform better after the patch. In any case, you should use your shatters in a pvp situation (at least F3 and F4), and even more after the patch, because IP will be baseline.

Yeah they are trying to make use of alacrity to make people able to keep phantasms up more despite shattering sometimes i think. This is good, because it actually might require some thought to when you shatter and how you manage alacrity. This in turn means that even phantasm build hopefully will take some effort to play instead of just spamming out all phantasms and waiting.

StormHawk.9862:

In HoT, do we shatter illusions even if we’re not a shatter build?

Like, would it be effective to shatter illusions even if we’re not a shatter build rather than just keep them up(which gives them a chance to die) for the extra passive damage they do? Cause apparently in the Twitch stream a week ago, they said that it’s not a healthy way to play and they WANT us to shatter illusions. Does this apply to non shatter builds as well?

actually you were always supposed to shatter, if your recasts are ready. Or if your illusions will soon die anyway. Now with alacrity/traits you have more ways to make your recasts ready.

the difference between pure shatter builds and other builds, is they shatter at different paces, for different reasons/effects.

now, a lazier way to play is just never shatter, but i would assume you lose some utility/effiency, compared to shattering at the perfect times.
That said its probably of minimal benefit, versus the loss on bad shatter timing