Guild Wars 2

So, I have a problem with mesmers. When I play my warrior, its not much of a problem. I destroy the clones in 2-3 hits, and I’m tanky enough to not care. However, on squishier characters such as my engineer, it gets difficult. An AoE can help, because i can see which one took the least damage and focus it, but more often than not thats not viable. While I’m busy shooting the fakes, the real one is healing, running or killing me. So, how can you tell which one is real? is there something special about the new character model? In other games, the clones don’t have items, move sporadically or don’t move at all, only auto attack, etc. Could I focus the mesmer, then target the focus? I can read their movements reasonably well, but some know just how to hide amid their clones.

And yes, I do target the one that uses an ability first.

You answered the question yourself – the real one is the one that’s running, healing, or killing you. Look for the telltale blue glow on the heal. If all the clones are attacking you from range, stand still a second and look for the one that’s moving, because the clones won’t move at all unless you move out of their range.

There are other nuances – the clones of Mesmers that use a weapon in each hand won’t be holding an offhand weapon. You can ctrl-t the Mesmer once you find him, but target focuses on them seem to break inconsistently.

When you down the Mesmer they’re going to try and clone away 90% of the time. Don’t interrupt your finisher; it sometimes goes through if they fail to blink far enough away. Look around – the real Mesmer to finish is the one with a red skull icon over his head.

Yeah, basically all you can really do is to look for which one is not JUST spamming the #1 skill. It’s a little rough, but clones are easy to see through usually. Tab-targetting can turn really difficult though.

The best advice I can ever give you is to play a mesmer yourself for a little while. The greatest way to beat an enemy is to understand and know their playstyle. This is exactly why I wish to get a level 80 for each profession, so I can be truly knowledgeable in pvp.

Best advice I can give is to actually PLAY one. Not long, just until level 5-10, trying different weapons and experiment with the abilities. You will IMMEDIATELY understand where the real mesmer is in PvP if you do this, and even what spec they are running.

Honestly? Pay attention.

1) Targeting marks on the real Mesmer do not drop/get cloned when illusions come out
2) Illusions don’t have offhand weapons
3) If a small hit took off a huge chunk of his health, that’s not the real one
4) If he just crit you for 5 dmg, it’s not the real one.

5/ if he has buffs then its the real one, if it has no buff or only regen then its an illusion (for /tab spammers). It could happen the mesmer doesnt have any buff too but not very likely
6/ if he moves around, its the real one, obviously also if he dodges, strafe … illusions are like mobs they get in range then they dont move around
7/ if he is using skills and not just autoattacking then its the real one (although some mesmers mimic their clones hehe)

8/ …

Just kidding but the list of hints between human playing and poor AI autoshooting could go forever.
Now ofc its easier to write than in the heat of the battle, but thats the general idea .. Dont panic and find real one.

If the mesmer has 100% map completion you should never have any difficulty at all finding him.

I really wish I could turn that kitten star off.

Cotillion.7435:

If the mesmer has 100% map completion you should never have any difficulty at all finding him.

I really wish I could turn that kitten star off.

I guess I don’t want those Gifts of Exploration that badly…

Also clones always spawn with full health regardless of how damaged mesmer is.

In general just take a second during a fight to see where the moving one is and CLICK HIM. Stop using tab targetting.