Guild Wars 2

Apologies for being a noob at this game, I just started 4 days ago. I currently have a level 52 mesmer, and these are the videos that led me to pick Mesmer as my first character:

However, I realize these videos are possibly outdated by recent patches/nerfs. Could you help a noob out and let me know if the tanky phantasm style is still viable in PvP?

i still use a staff/sword pistol phantasm build , what has been nerfed is the damage of phantasm specially in 2 ways:

Now you have an extra 5 second cooldown on warlock and duelist, your aoe has a 10 second extra cooldown and warlock shoots less often. This translated means less damage but i still manage to bring down most people and they can’t in 1v1 and hopefully stand long enough 2v1 vs non pure glass canons. 2 thieves kill me in a glimpse but they kill the same way bunker guardians so not an issue.

However, since in 2 days we have a big patch i’d not struggle.

I wish I’d fraps’d the fight I was in on IoJ bl in our t2 WvW. Tanked and tied down 4 poeple while my warrior partner took them down. I have 18750hp and a little over 2k toughness. Running a mantra heal/support spec. Can a Mesmer tank? You bet you kitten it can.

It was a slight cooldown nerf on Phantasms.
I run a Phantasmic build myself and it works fine.

Personally I run Sword/Focus+Greatsword, but I swap the Focus out as the situation calls for something different.

Also don’t rely to much on youtube build videos, experiment with the class and find a playstyle that suits you and build around it.