Glass cannon phantasm + reflection is standard for dungeons.
10/20/0/25/15 with all the phantasm-boosting traits and a traited Focus. The other major variant puts 30 points into Dueling to grab Empowering Mantras and runs 3-4 mantras on the bar to get more damage multiplier; it’s a bit harder to play in PUGs since you basically give up your utility bar, but is hands down the best reflection damage you can get which is useful for Lupi and some other bosses. It loses out a little bit more in general now too, since you can run the new Signet heal instead to get more frontloaded damage (by having three phantasms out right away).
They haven’t been part of the core meta for a good while as ele’s might stacking has been popularised, and people learning the ability to LOS has reduced the “necessity” for a Mesmer’s SOI and Temporal.
That said, they still fare pretty well, and do have the highest theoretical DPS (theoretical, in practice its pretty low as phantasms die often).
Mesmers are even falling out of Arah now that people are learning how to substitute Feedback for a Guardian’s WOR.
Sadly, Mesmer’s are being put on a support line more and more with every patch and having their damage hampered – not what meta groups want.
Light Up the Darkness
“Dear ANet, nerf Paper, Scissors is fine. Sincerely, Rock”
Elysaurus | Warrior | [LOL] | League of the Legendary | Gandara (EU)
10/20/0/25/15 is good for phantasm heavy s/s-s/f build.
If you prefer pistol oriented s/p-s/f playstyle and/or value faster disenchanter attacks, sacrificing a few percent of phantasm dps for quicker phantasm attacks (PH is a ~12% DPS boost for duelist) is worth it, which makes the build 10/20/0/20/20.
If you can’t keep phantasms up for too long and want higher self & reflect damage, 10/30/0/20/10 or 0/30/0/25/15 mantra oriented builds are equally viable. It’ll all come down to whether you prefer higher self dps or faster iWarden summons.
All above builds assume you will trait your focus.
If you prefer pistol oriented s/p-s/f playstyle and/or value faster disenchanter attacks, sacrificing a few percent of phantasm dps for quicker phantasm attacks (PH is a ~12% DPS boost for duelist) is worth it, which makes the build 10/20/0/20/20.
Going 20 deep for phantasms haste is pointless at the moment as it is bugged and only effects the iduelist as i recall.
lol, which is exactly what I specified “If you prefer pistol oriented s/p-s/f playstyle”
One more thing for OP. In the end it will come down to how effectively you handle your mesmer. A good mesmer with bad build will still be good. A bad mesmer with a great build will still be… bad.
They haven’t been part of the core meta for a good while as ele’s might stacking has been popularised, and people learning the ability to LOS has reduced the “necessity” for a Mesmer’s SOI and Temporal.
That said, they still fare pretty well, and do have the highest theoretical DPS (theoretical, in practice its pretty low as phantasms die often).
Mesmers are even falling out of Arah now that people are learning how to substitute Feedback for a Guardian’s WOR.
Sadly, Mesmer’s are being put on a support line more and more with every patch and having their damage hampered – not what meta groups want.
I can’t imagine why you would ever want to take a guardian over a mesmer. If anything mesmers are obsoleting guardians since they can do everything they do but better.
In game 30/30/0/0/10 Mantra/Phantasm has given me the best numbers but you lose out on Focus reflects. 10/20/0/25/15 is a nice build but it’s lower DPS. Phantasm DPS is great but you need to maintain at least 2x to keep stay competitive with other DPS’rs and sometimes its hard to do so, I’ve been running other classes lately because they tend to be more consistent although I haven’t given SotE a fair shot yet. Shatter has pretty low sustained DPS but nice burst and AoE. Both these builds are completely viable with full Zerker.
Blood~
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance”
In game 30/30/0/0/10 Mantra/Phantasm has given me the best numbers but you lose out on Focus reflects. 10/30/0/25/15 is a nice build but it’s lower DPS. Phantasm DPS is great but you need to maintain at least 2x to keep stay competitive with other DPS’rs and sometimes its hard to do so, I’ve been running other classes lately because they tend to be more consistent although I haven’t given SotE a fair shot yet. Shatter has pretty low sustained DPS but nice burst and AoE. Both these builds are completely viable with full Zerker.
Blood~
You only need to maintain one to stay competitive with most low-tier DPS classes, i.e. ranger/engineer/necro/warrior. It’s only when you’re going up against elementalists and thieves that you need to be on top of your game to compete.
They haven’t been part of the core meta for a good while as ele’s might stacking has been popularised, and people learning the ability to LOS has reduced the “necessity” for a Mesmer’s SOI and Temporal.
That said, they still fare pretty well, and do have the highest theoretical DPS (theoretical, in practice its pretty low as phantasms die often).
Mesmers are even falling out of Arah now that people are learning how to substitute Feedback for a Guardian’s WOR.
Sadly, Mesmer’s are being put on a support line more and more with every patch and having their damage hampered – not what meta groups want.
I can’t imagine why you would ever want to take a guardian over a mesmer. If anything mesmers are obsoleting guardians since they can do everything they do but better.
You are delusional. Guardians have higher sustained DPS (don’t go resorting to your favourite spreadsheets as we all know it’s impossible to keep phantasms up all the time and by the time 3 are up mobs are dead anyway), as well as more reflections and reliable aegis.
Light Up the Darkness
“Dear ANet, nerf Paper, Scissors is fine. Sincerely, Rock”
Elysaurus | Warrior | [LOL] | League of the Legendary | Gandara (EU)
They haven’t been part of the core meta for a good while as ele’s might stacking has been popularised, and people learning the ability to LOS has reduced the “necessity” for a Mesmer’s SOI and Temporal.
That said, they still fare pretty well, and do have the highest theoretical DPS (theoretical, in practice its pretty low as phantasms die often).
Mesmers are even falling out of Arah now that people are learning how to substitute Feedback for a Guardian’s WOR.
Sadly, Mesmer’s are being put on a support line more and more with every patch and having their damage hampered – not what meta groups want.
I can’t imagine why you would ever want to take a guardian over a mesmer. If anything mesmers are obsoleting guardians since they can do everything they do but better.
You are delusional. Guardians have higher sustained DPS (don’t go resorting to your favourite spreadsheets as we all know it’s impossible to keep phantasms up all the time and by the time 3 are up mobs are dead anyway), as well as more reflections and reliable aegis.
You’re the one who’s delusional if you think a guardian will ever be able to compete with a mesmer in DPS or reflects.
You only need to maintain one to stay competitive with most low-tier DPS classes, i.e. ranger/engineer/necro/warrior. It’s only when you’re going up against elementalists and thieves that you need to be on top of your game to compete.
With a 10/20/0/25/15 Sw/S Sw/F and 3x phantasms on the field I can’t quite match a new 30/30/0/0/10 Bomb Engi.
30/30/0/0/10 Mantra/Phantasm can match with 2x phantasms. But this build lacks reflects.
These comparisons come from my personal solo in game testing on Mists Golem and Vet Giants. Not sure how they scale with group buffs n such.
I have however been able to maintain 2x Phantasms a majority of the time through dungeons with 10/20/0/25/15 and SotE. I would say that this is a completely viable zerker build for dungeons.
IMHO
Blood~
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance”
