After some pretty exhaustive dueling, here are some builds and strategies that achieved parity against D/P+S/D Interrupt Daredevil and S/S+LB Meditrapper DH, two hard counters to power shatter Mesmer in the current roaming meta.
Here’s the default build I used going into these duels: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAseRlknhy0YhawRNwtGL4GFautb9WZA0a/SdsWr5KA-TVCBQBN4BAAgjAgGVGoP9BKU9Hso07MKBrx+Db4UAQKgAXAA-w
The matchups:
Against daredevil – http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZAQRAoa8Yn8lClOhFOBGmC8PhFYCTLBEAyAzhwTYL0LNcGaDA-w
The thief’s goal is to force you to burn cooldowns early and then punish it with pulmonary impact. Early fight headshots are a huge pain due to lack of stab access. Most of your skills are channeled and the thief has plenty of dodges to cover his initiative spam. Unless you are godly at landing a shatter burst (with CS?) the biggest mistake you can make is overcommitting early on.
The build – http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAsfRl0nhy0YJawRNwtGLrG05RSyzL3QxDg5Mm2KA-TVCBQBHc/Bso0bDnCgzoEEAHBANqMQf6DawDAQhq/QKgBWAA-w
I found the most success playing this PU Mantra base Mesmer build. You’ve got fantastic stealth access and instant cast damage through Mantra of Pain. Turn off autoattacking and save your shatters for when the thief tries to melee you. If the thief decides to stealth up using black powder and heartseeker, use your Mass Invis a few seconds in to regain the opener. Little things like using stealth to cover your heal and mantra preparation, or leaving your illusionary leap clone up to teleport to will pay off.
Against Dragonhunter – http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQNAseTn8cClDhVdCWDB8DhlGiKL+uv8Te4T+o/aYXgAA-w
The guardian’s build is tricky. He’s got access to many blocks to negate bursts, and the ability to fully reset his HP every 25 econds. The early fight is usually a JI/word burst coupled with shield knockback before True Shot. The bread and butter combo will be to pull you with Virtue of Justice through Test of Faith, then knock you back out, inflicting massive damage.
The build – http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAsaRlknhy0YxawRNwtGL4GlZGkLRQdsWr5aZA0a/CA-TVCBQBaUZAAOCAHc/BFq+zZUCqP9BYRpXDeAAb4UAQKgBWAA-w
This is another fight where patience pays off. Back to Chrono, but we double down on PU from the earlier build. Much of the guardian’s damage depends on his ability to port to you, so we’ll open with stealth to get both DPS phantasms out (you absolutely need both phantasms to overcome the DH’s healing). Try to stay at range and in greatsword, so that when the DH does port to you, you have Blurred Frenzy ready to go. It’s worth blowing distortion for the pull alone, but you can usually dodge it if you pay attention to the buff bar when Justice comes back.
The takeaway:
I was having a discussion with a guildie about new meta vs old meta and one thing that came out of it was the idea that smart players have always catered to what works for their profession. Back when critical damage was king, or the shift to power builds, condi, etc. Much of the WvW meta has been exploiting what is “broken” to gain an advantage and win the fight. What mechanics, traits, and skills are still “broken” in our favor? I came away from these duels with a greater appreciation of Restorative Mantras, Prismatic Understanding, and off-hand pistol.
A few words on pistol. For me at least, there’s always been this tension between setups with double DPS phantasm or single DPS with a defensive set (usually sword). I used stealth to cover the defensive gaps of S/P this time, but I’ll be testing it more with group comps where shield has been so useful in high cleave engagements.
(edited by expandas.7051)