Guild Wars 2

I’ve never played Mesmer, but currently making one, I’d like to go tanky phantasm with staff, and possibly either sw/focus or sword/pistol as offhand, I don’t plan on shattering often, if only for distortion.

Any thoughts on how to build one?

I plan on being pure solo roamer wvw, I like to be high sustain and tanky was thinking knights armor but no idea as far as trinkets/backpiece/weps/runes etc.

Thank you.

0/20/20/25/5 is a basic tanky phantasm build that can be altered to suit. Use sword cooldown and clone on dodge in dueling line, damage reduction if you have illusions out and staff cooldown in chaos line and focus cooldown in inspiration, with the other major as your choice.

The clone on dodge trait isn’t essential, taking this out and putting 10 more into domination for the extra illusion damage trait can work, but the dodge trait gives you access to clones when you need to shatter quickly.

Knights armor + the 20 points in chaos will give you decent toughness, plus the 25 in inspiration will put you over 18k HP from memory. Plus phantasms give regen so constant sustain (combined with the chaos minor traits, you have protection constantly as well). As for the weapons/trinkets, depends how tanky you want to be. Toughness is more useful than vitality most of the time due to illusions inheriting this, not vitality. Knights or soldiers gear will give you the defensive stats, throw in some beserker gear if you want to be a little more DPS focused. Runes depend on what utality you want, centaur works for constant swiftness, which may not be required if you have a focus offhand. Melandru or Hoelbruk helps with reducing condition effectiveness for super tanky play. For sigils, have one weapon with stacks (bloodlust) and switch this out when you have 25 up. Leeching is good for tanky builds, otherwise battle will give you might which can help (works well with Hoelbruk runes)

For utilities, phasmatical defender is really useful if your by yourself or in a small group as it absorbs damage. In larger groups, not so good. Signet of illusions works well to keep your phantasms alive for a long time, though it isnt reliable as it takes some time to hit in. If your fighting classes which spam conditions, disenchanter can help, also for removing enemies boons. You will want a stun breaker though, blink works really well for resposition, especially with phantasms and phase retreat on the staff. Otherwise decoy can work.

Just the basics anyway, this can be altered easily to suit what you need. If your a low level, focus on getting to know the class inside out instead of worrying about builds just yet. Seven Mirror has some great videos on phantasms builds, he is master mesmer ( https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Seven-Mirror-WvW-Mesmer-06-08-13/first), I’m not totally sure the effect the recent patches have had on other builds, but I recall Pryo having some good details as well. Some info in this thread: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/List-Find-your-Mesmer-Build-Guides/first

I advice power/precision/toughness gear, with some vitality sprinkled in. Aim for around 1800/1800/1800/1500 (exact numbers vary of course).

I would not recommend clone on dodge. You want all phantasms out, not replace one with a clone everytime you have to dodge. That trait is far better for shatter builds.

But if you want to be a pure solo roamer however, I would not recommend a tanky mesmer to begin with!
Solo the mesmer excel at hitting hard and fast, you need damage for that. A shatter stealth spec would IMO be better and more fun.