Guild Wars 2

I only enjoy light armor classes because I dislike the way medium and heavy armor looks. I felt my necro was too weak, elementalist is straight up boring, and I enjoy mesmer but I find shattering to be quite boring and all around dislike it. Is there a way I can be a better necro/mesmer?

My all time favorite Mesmer is the phantasm builds. Just keep the phantasms up and working the enemy and only tend to shatter when the next cool down round is ready or using distortion to spike people.

Even non-shatter builds use shatter eventually.

I like Thief but but hate to stealth, I love ele but hate to change attinment, I like necro but dont like conditions… see where Im going?

/Osicat

Osicat.4139:

I like Thief but but hate to stealth, I love ele but hate to change attinment, I like necro but dont like conditions… see where Im going?

/Osicat

Come now, not all mesmer builds have shatter =P.

There are a lot of viable builds that don’t involve shattering. Take a look through the build list in the stickied threads and see if you can find one that fits your preferences.

Osicat.4139:

I like Thief but but hate to stealth, I love ele but hate to change attinment, I like necro but dont like conditions… see where Im going?

/Osicat

Lol.

I’m not ashamed to admit I didn’t shatter nearly enough till I saw the first Osicat vid’s a couple months after launch.

That’s when it clicked that 30 deep into illusions and shattering were the most fundamental way to play mesmer.

I somewhat agree that if you’re not playing a phantasm spec and you’re still not shattering often then you’re just not playing mesmer to it’s potential.

Only if I’m relying on phantasms in a “phantasm build” do I not shatter. Even then I’ll still distort or burst if I need it.

The 0-20-20-0-30 build is just too good compared to almost every other mesmer spec and that spec requires shattering early and often.

Maybe mesmer isn’t for you original poster. Try the other classes.

Yeah, there is a very simple solution to your problem, don’t hit shatter. Shatter also immensely put me off so I have only ever been a phantasm mesmer since I have started back in October.

I run phantasm in pvp, wvw, pve, and enjoy every minute of it. The leveling experience was not enjoyable at all however and I warn you of this.

Both phantasm and condition builds make very minimal use of shattering, so you may want to look into those options. That being said, even if you aren’t using Mind Wrack and Cry of Frustration, you will likely need to use Diversion and Distortion from time to time to interrupt/protect yourself.

Diversion is actually really great.

I hardly see any mesmers do this, but I “spread” out my clones so that they chain daze the target. I meant, not as far as to explode in the next second, but far enough to disable the person for a measly 2seconds (potential to be 3, but that’s pretty rough)

Also, if you have IP and Mirror Images, a quick MI + Distortion grants 3 seconds of invuln. Along with Decoy, you can easily make the enemies lose track of you.

On my condition build I very rarely use shatters and if I do it’s usually diversion with my clones staggered for chain daze/vulnerability stacking. You don’t need to constantly shatter in all Mesmer builds but it would be to your best interests to at least shatter opportunistically.

Even alot of non shatter builds (not all though) use shatters. Sometimes you just want to get rid of some useless clones, you can trait for your shatters to give 5 seconds vigor and condition removal. The only thing you have to sacrifice are some clones, really.
Start the fight with some clones, shatter them one by one for party-wide vigor, then use phantasms and keep them there for damage. If the phantasms are about to get eaten by something you can also shatter them for vigor ^^.
Vigor recharges dodge energy twice as fast by the way.

Alissah.9281:

Even alot of non shatter builds (not all though) use shatters. Sometimes you just want to get rid of some useless clones, you can trait for your shatters to give 5 seconds vigor and condition removal. The only thing you have to sacrifice are some clones, really.
Start the fight with some clones, shatter them one by one for party-wide vigor, then use phantasms and keep them there for damage. If the phantasms are about to get eaten by something you can also shatter them for vigor ^^.
Vigor recharges dodge energy twice as fast by the way.

Just remember dont kill PHANTOMS in Phantom builds!! they are superrior to us, 3x iWarlock/iWardens can do more dmg than 1kblades Warriors. For me each Warlock hit 10/15k each time, so its nice 45k dmg each time, while i can ress/focus on tank boss/place defence do whatever i kittening want and still do same dmg as other

Mate if you don’t like the Shatter mechanic, you can try my build in the signature.
This build uses conditions (mainly bleeding) and direct damage burst with iDuelist+Combo Fields… so keep it alive!

For shatters, use them when you NEED:

1. Distortion when you could get a devastating attack.
2. Diversion when your target is preparing to heal.

I used to dislike it, but when you swap in on someone, frenzy their face and shatter it just looks like you did something flashy and all your clones just happened to die lol.

But if you hate it so much try some kind of tanky clone army build, trait heavily for clone death, or bleed based if you want more damage, and possibly find a way to regen passively. (Be better without the I clerity nerf) it’s not that viable in sPvP, but you can run in WvW zergs just fine as well as hold significant presence in dungeons.

Spam a phantasm build, not like mesmer is limited to shattering only. It would be nice to change your F1-F4 when not on a shatter build tho

Run a pet spec then. Trait for phantasms and attempt to keep them alive.

shimmerless.4560:

the way i see it if you’re ignoring any of your shatter skills you’re not playing mes to its full potential. no class can get away with just ignoring its class mechanic i feel.

I disagree. Depending on the build you can play andf do well without the need for Shattering. Condition Builds and Phantasm builds i used to run ONLY used F4 (Distortion) and did well.

Shattering is VERY meh unless you trait and build for it, thats one thing i hate about our Mechanic – what other class mechanic is SO poor until it is traited to actually be worth something.

The only one i can think of could be Guardian. The rest ROCK compared to ours.

Osicat.4139:

I like Thief but but hate to stealth, I love ele but hate to change attinment, I like necro but dont like conditions… see where Im going?

/Osicat

U should Write “I like Thief but Hate to Steal and I like Necro but don’t like to use Green Bars” Since we are talking about F1.

Nevhie.6079:

Osicat.4139:

I like Thief but but hate to stealth, I love ele but hate to change attinment, I like necro but dont like conditions… see where Im going?

/Osicat

U should Write “I like Thief but Hate to Steal and I like Necro but don’t like to use Green Bars” Since we are talking about F1.

Also, i have an Ele and RARELY change from my Air Attunement thanks to my build. I have also seem PLENTY of Necros that have next to no Condition damage (bar Dhumfire) that go all nuke and that seems to work very well to them.

And as stated, neither Necro Condi or Thief steal is part of there F1-F4 mechanic. What class has a WORSE F1-F4 mechanic then Mesmer (pre-traited) and even traited they are still better (imo)

Engineer – Different skills based on utilities can be VERY strong depending on the Utilities you pick

Necro – Nice new health bar and some very nice abilities

Thief – Gap closer + Ability steal (i love how Steal from a Necro gives them a LONGER Fear then the necro has lol)

Ele – New skills, can be defensive, offensive or supportive can be very strong

Warrior – Kinda similar to Mesmer, though more adrenaline = more damage

Ranger – A nice pet, various options for pet (even if they all look fugly)

Guardian – Kinda crappy, tied with Mesmer i think

I used to hate shattering as well so I went phantasms. Then I decided to give a full blown shatter build a chance and I haven’t turned back since. Gotten to the point where I’ve mapped my mouse with shatter buttons to make my combos even more efficient. That and phantasms got boring -_-
/2cents

Iconoklast.2389:

I used to hate shattering as well so I went phantasms. Then I decided to give a full blown shatter build a chance and I haven’t turned back since. Gotten to the point where I’ve mapped my mouse with shatter buttons to make my combos even more efficient. That and phantasms got boring -_-
/2cents

Iam trying out a similar build to Osicat shatter build. I find it more rewarding in a way as it requires more skill and better timing. It just takes time to get used to.

The problem with shattering, unless traited, geared, and speced for they can be pretty poor. So if you want to Shatter its best to go all out for it.

I changed my traits, gear, weapons, Sigils, Runes, Utilities EVERYTHING!

I go up against champion mesmers who are highly ranked all the time , and there is nothing more i hate than getting dazed when i finally push the pressure on the real one.

I think you just have to learn to get on with it really.

I think Shattering is quite a boring mechanic at it’s bare bones and no matter what spec we go we are a class that feed into our mechanic more than any other. But i still love my mes!

I like living, but hate eating.

Shatter doesn’t have to be the focus but really if your opponent is about to die why not just Mind Wreak it to death since the illusions are going to poof once it dies anyway. Might as well get a last small AoE burst out of them instead of just watching them disappear.

I don’t rely on shatter, I just shatter when i know my next phantasms or whatever i’m doing next will replace illusions, its just the question, why not? If i have time and extra fingers to shatter for extra damage, confusion, daze, etc and of course distortion to save yourself, why not? a daze well timed is great, mind wrack makes room for next illusions to go.

On the other hand, if theres really no need to shatter, and you can just be lazy, then don’t.

But the way i see it, it’s just why not?

You don’t have to rely on it, you don’t have to play a shatter build. I play a phantasm oriented build. Just shatter when you’re able to

Pyroatheist.9031:

There are a lot of viable builds that don’t involve shattering.

Blasphemy! Burn it, burn it before it can breed!