Guild Wars 2

Hai mesmers.

I’m a necro main with a mesmer alt in a T2 WvW guild focused on fights. I was wondering what gank squad type builds you guys think work well at the moment. I know mesmers aren’t great in wvw, but every group needs at least one for veils and I’d like to be able to jump on it if we don’t have our usual mesmer on or when I get tired of well bombing people into oblivion.

Is the standard great sword and sw/f shatter build 4/4/0/0/6 still ideal to target enemy peripherals? Or is staff a better weapon now that the sword leap got ruined? Furthermore what types of runes gear numbers to hit and tactics do you gank squad veterans employ? Veil definitely needs to be there and I’d assume blink or decoy would be good too.

Shatter or PU will do nicely, with shatter being the strongest oomph build the Mesmer has (excellent in havoc squads). Gear depend on what you want to do. Staff is a very defensive weapon and used best as an in your face initiatior role (get in, pop chaos storm, preferably proc inside it by leaping away, etc). If your squad doesnt have a Thief you need the GS to slow down runners instead.

Veil shouldnt really be needed, but its always nice to have available. I prefer using mass invisibility, barely even see anyone use timewarp anymore. Again, it really depend on your squad. Skilled players bring their own methods to stomp and wont need timewarp.

Copy pasta my build from another thread since it’s more relative here.

When roaming with a small group, I find being a blanket daze mesmer is so much more useful when roaming than any other build. Daze is completely overpowered to me, and the lockdown with a mesmer(asuran especially with blanket Technobabble) is terrific. I use Moa because it removes a target from the fight long enough for your party to lock down a called target covered with blanket dazes to ensure a kill especially if you follow the moa up with some fears.

I use mantra of recovery for the 0 cast time condi removals which often save me from immobilize set ups. I use sword main hand when roaming for i leap. Not for the immobilize or even the activate, but because it spawns a clone close enough to them often enough to get a quick diversion proc. It helps set up shatter combos without having the clones on dodge trait.

This build is all about setting up kills for your party, but it’s pretty effective at 1v1 too. Scepter/ Pistol is better than Staff to me simply for the on demand and consistant daze/ stun. It adds another melee ranged parry which is important for all thieves you’ll fight. I keep a staff in pocket too, but staff is mostly for chaos armor stacking and the RNG daze proc or standing in Chaos Storm against thieves. Removing boons with your shatters really helps to mitigate stability or protection nonsense and set up your party’s burst more effectively to help finish someone while you have someone else moa’d.

Change MoD for Arcane Thievery if you need to(mostly against Condi Thieves so you can swap their immob stacking and gtfo). You can switch MoD to pretty much anything you need as it’s not very crucial, but it is very nice with this build for the extra burst on interrupts, immobilize, lock outs. But sometimes decoy for better shatters or blink for better mobility can be optimized choices.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhQQRAra8cl0np0tNqxGNMrNipBZ6XEjccqqQ6A0ghC-TVSDwAzU/J/+Di0cAV5XlTCAATQKUCO4BBI5IAEAABgduzje0jmUAjNMC-w

It stacks might pretty well with runes of traveller/ sigil of battle/ and interrupt might. So with full sigil of bloodlust, wvw bloodlust, guard stacks and might, you can be at around a comfortable 2800-2900 power with decent crit damage and tankiness. All the might stacking gives you decent condi damage as well which makes scepter not too terrible.

Interesting advice everyone.

Anyway, I’d personally have to take veil because my guild raids rely on it, and I don’t really roam. Basically my job would be to veil them and take down their peripherals that get out of position. The scepter pistol sounds like a cool idea and I could use it with GS since I zerker makes necros panic and pop cooldowns too soon lol. I’d only worry about lack of cleave from sword but I guess that’s OK since most people seem to think sword is a broken weapon. I’m personally a fan of centaur runes for mobility and extra power, and the reduced cripple duration is nice too. I’m also not a fan of bloodlust sigil (which is banned in GvGs by the way) so I opt to take air force or fire instead.

Just curious when you say Gank squad and focused on fights, how many people does your guild normally run? This will definitely effect which build you’d want to run.

Syprus Soulslayer.1640:

Just curious when you say Gank squad and focused on fights, how many people does your guild normally run? This will definitely effect which build you’d want to run.

Hi we generally run 15-25 and we’re on a T2 server. Our typical gank squad varies based on the numbers and our comp, and typically we run at least a mesmer and a thief but sometimes we have a ranger (entaglebomb lolz) and an eviscerate warrior. Basically they just pick off the enemies eles and necros and anyone that gets too far from safety, besides veiling and whatnot.

We’re slowly getting back into GvG, so we’d have a more organized squad for that, but I’d probably stay on necro for that.

Shinoobi.1259:

Copy pasta my build from another thread since it’s more relative here.

When roaming with a small group, I find being a blanket daze mesmer is so much more useful when roaming than any other build. Daze is completely overpowered to me, and the lockdown with a mesmer(asuran especially with blanket Technobabble) is terrific. I use Moa because it removes a target from the fight long enough for your party to lock down a called target covered with blanket dazes to ensure a kill especially if you follow the moa up with some fears.

I use mantra of recovery for the 0 cast time condi removals which often save me from immobilize set ups. I use sword main hand when roaming for i leap. Not for the immobilize or even the activate, but because it spawns a clone close enough to them often enough to get a quick diversion proc. It helps set up shatter combos without having the clones on dodge trait.

This build is all about setting up kills for your party, but it’s pretty effective at 1v1 too. Scepter/ Pistol is better than Staff to me simply for the on demand and consistant daze/ stun. It adds another melee ranged parry which is important for all thieves you’ll fight. I keep a staff in pocket too, but staff is mostly for chaos armor stacking and the RNG daze proc or standing in Chaos Storm against thieves. Removing boons with your shatters really helps to mitigate stability or protection nonsense and set up your party’s burst more effectively to help finish someone while you have someone else moa’d.

Change MoD for Arcane Thievery if you need to(mostly against Condi Thieves so you can swap their immob stacking and gtfo). You can switch MoD to pretty much anything you need as it’s not very crucial, but it is very nice with this build for the extra burst on interrupts, immobilize, lock outs. But sometimes decoy for better shatters or blink for better mobility can be optimized choices.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhQQRAra8cl0np0tNqxGNMrNipBZ6XEjccqqQ6A0ghC-TVSDwAzU/J/+Di0cAV5XlTCAATQKUCO4BBI5IAEAABgduzje0jmUAjNMC-w

It stacks might pretty well with runes of traveller/ sigil of battle/ and interrupt might. So with full sigil of bloodlust, wvw bloodlust, guard stacks and might, you can be at around a comfortable 2800-2900 power with decent crit damage and tankiness. All the might stacking gives you decent condi damage as well which makes scepter not too terrible.

- Wouldn’t confounding suggestions (25% daze duration) be better than power lock in this build?

- IMO, pack runes are better in a gank squad than traveler’s. Traveler’s are meant for solo roaming.

- This build seems pretty vulnerable to enemy gank teams overall, especially when you don’t have staff/blink equipped. You don’t have the deceptive evasion + distortion that a shatter mesmer has, nor the perma protection of a PU mesmer. I don’t see how you can live against continued pressure if the enemy gank squad decides to focus on you.

adelaide.6213:

Shinoobi.1259:

Copy pasta my build from another thread since it’s more relative here.

When roaming with a small group, I find being a blanket daze mesmer is so much more useful when roaming than any other build. Daze is completely overpowered to me, and the lockdown with a mesmer(asuran especially with blanket Technobabble) is terrific. I use Moa because it removes a target from the fight long enough for your party to lock down a called target covered with blanket dazes to ensure a kill especially if you follow the moa up with some fears.

I use mantra of recovery for the 0 cast time condi removals which often save me from immobilize set ups. I use sword main hand when roaming for i leap. Not for the immobilize or even the activate, but because it spawns a clone close enough to them often enough to get a quick diversion proc. It helps set up shatter combos without having the clones on dodge trait.

This build is all about setting up kills for your party, but it’s pretty effective at 1v1 too. Scepter/ Pistol is better than Staff to me simply for the on demand and consistant daze/ stun. It adds another melee ranged parry which is important for all thieves you’ll fight. I keep a staff in pocket too, but staff is mostly for chaos armor stacking and the RNG daze proc or standing in Chaos Storm against thieves. Removing boons with your shatters really helps to mitigate stability or protection nonsense and set up your party’s burst more effectively to help finish someone while you have someone else moa’d.

Change MoD for Arcane Thievery if you need to(mostly against Condi Thieves so you can swap their immob stacking and gtfo). You can switch MoD to pretty much anything you need as it’s not very crucial, but it is very nice with this build for the extra burst on interrupts, immobilize, lock outs. But sometimes decoy for better shatters or blink for better mobility can be optimized choices.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhQQRAra8cl0np0tNqxGNMrNipBZ6XEjccqqQ6A0ghC-TVSDwAzU/J/+Di0cAV5XlTCAATQKUCO4BBI5IAEAABgduzje0jmUAjNMC-w

It stacks might pretty well with runes of traveller/ sigil of battle/ and interrupt might. So with full sigil of bloodlust, wvw bloodlust, guard stacks and might, you can be at around a comfortable 2800-2900 power with decent crit damage and tankiness. All the might stacking gives you decent condi damage as well which makes scepter not too terrible.

- Wouldn’t confounding suggestions (25% daze duration) be better than power lock in this build?

- IMO, pack runes are better in a gank squad than traveler’s. Traveler’s are meant for solo roaming.

- This build seems pretty vulnerable to enemy gank teams overall, especially when you don’t have staff/blink equipped. You don’t have the deceptive evasion + distortion that a shatter mesmer has, nor the perma protection of a PU mesmer. I don’t see how you can live against continued pressure if the enemy gank squad decides to focus on you.

It’s not worth it, no. Power lock has no internal cooldown and can really mess someone up. Technobabble becomes 3 3/4th a second, MoD becomes 1 1/4th second, pistol 2 1/2 second and so on. It’s not terrible, but it’s definitely not as good as putting enemy heal skill or evade/ escape or anything on a 10 second longer cooldown.

Pack runes aren’t for me. I don’t have any swiftness without a party nor do I have any access to give allies any other buffs besides that. It seems really situational.

This build was meant for roaming. I usually run blink instead of MoD, but if I have a good roaming party, I’ll sacrifice blink for MoD. You have two parries that are very punishing to attackers, blurred frenzy, and blink if you need. The immobilize on interrupt helps you gain a bit of distance if being chased. If I find I need more mobility, I’ll switch sceptor/ pistol to staff, yeah.

I’m not even sure what this person means as gank squad. I know gank squad as a party within a GvG group that hunts backliners. I know gank squad as roamers who meet up with zerg and then split off and hunt backliners. I don’t know a group of 15-25 being considered a gank squad. This build starts to fall off the more numbers you throw in it. Anything over 3v3 or 5v5, it becomes less effective. If you have good focus fire and CC, then you are almost guaranteed the first stomp though. You can’t remove daze with condi cleanses or stun breaks.

What I meant is that my guild group is 15-25 people. Our actual gank squad is anywhere from 2 to 5 people.

IIRC power lock only increases interrupted skills by 5 seconds (So 10 seconds total, not 15.) I suggested CS because the rng stun locks down your target, making it easier for any teammates to burst down your target. Power block seems more like a tempo trait in small-scale fights (which you state your build is for.) Power blocks is also nearly useless against thieves.

Also, stun-breaks do indeed remove daze.

adelaide.6213:

Also, stun-breaks do indeed remove daze.

kitten , you’re right, they do.

nearlight.3064:

… I know mesmers aren’t great in wvw, but every group needs at least one for veils…

You… didn’t have to put it so bluntly.

nearlight.3064:

Is the standard great sword and sw/f shatter build 4/4/0/0/6 still ideal to target enemy peripherals? Or is staff a better weapon now that the sword leap got ruined? Furthermore what types of runes gear numbers to hit and tactics do you gank squad veterans employ? Veil definitely needs to be there and I’d assume blink or decoy would be good too.

If you are only interested in focusing backliners with a gank squad (other mesmers, d/d eles, thieves), I would go for a hybrid shatter build like this

You can switch mantra of resolve for decoy or null field and timewarp for mass invisibility as required.

2-5 is what I normally run with I’m not a fan of Zergs or Karma Trains. At maximum we’ll have between 6-12 on so small man is all we do with the occasional 5 v 5 GvG. I’m currently running a Hybrid 4 4 6 0 0 Sword / Torch, Scepter / Pistol build. The gear is basically full celestial minus 4 pieces with Travelers Runes ( Kind of a Must for Roaming ). I’ll also throw in the Power and Condition ( Standard PU Condition ) versions of this build. I’ll change my utilities and a trait or 2 depending on who I’m roaming with and what we’re engaging. Additionally if you’re finding the Power version a bit rough just swap out Greatsword Training for Cleansing Conflagration and drop the Pistol for Torch. At rank 888 with over 30k Kills in WvW and over 3000 hours I know Mesmer pretty well and I can tell you that this build is very effective in small man fights. I’ll attach a link to my youtube channel so you can see it in action both in Solo and in small man groups. Test it, tweak it, make it yours!

I hope this helps you on your quest to find a Gank Squad Mesmer Build

Hybrid:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhEQRAsf7ansISZaWkGOqB3aGR1YM9Lp0CJDYhS2x2A-TFzCABOcCAA4AIs3+DAqh5QlgdqOAnqocxTK4LlfXqShg6HK4gCEAABY40NZWn1tu1tutclrchuch28F6wVuOHOpA2aaE-w

Power:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhEQNAR8ansISZaWkGOqB3aGJ1YMdMr8CJHIgS+R3A-T1zCABOcQAqTDiiKBB4AIQnGi92foT1A4UFloUWdxTKQKlIfpUQOdDFcBBkU1iAAHADPcCX4CP8wDf91fe91XvhHe4hHe4SBs1wI-w

Condition:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhEQNAW7fnsISDaWkGOqB3aGx1YM9JhUCJDYgSWx0A-TlyCABOcQAA4CIs3+DAq7BLlMX8kC+S50lq/UwBEYMlgBAOA2d30tu1d3d39yLv8yLvcLv8yLv8ulCYrpRA-w

youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwe3AW1hMqAwwk9JyL876KQ

Syprus Soulslayer.1640:

2-5 is what I normally run with I’m not a fan of Zergs or Karma Trains. At maximum we’ll have between 6-12 on so small man is all we do with the occasional 5 v 5 GvG. I’m currently running a Hybrid 4 4 6 0 0 Sword / Torch, Scepter / Pistol build. The gear is basically full celestial minus 4 pieces with Travelers Runes ( Kind of a Must for Roaming ). I’ll also throw in the Power and Condition ( Standard PU Condition ) versions of this build. I’ll change my utilities and a trait or 2 depending on who I’m roaming with and what we’re engaging. Additionally if you’re finding the Power version a bit rough just swap out Greatsword Training for Cleansing Conflagration and drop the Pistol for Torch. At rank 888 with over 30k Kills in WvW and over 3000 hours I know Mesmer pretty well and I can tell you that this build is very effective in small man fights. I’ll attach a link to my youtube channel so you can see it in action both in Solo and in small man groups. Test it, tweak it, make it yours!

I hope this helps you on your quest to find a Gank Squad Mesmer Build

Hybrid:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhEQRAsf7ansISZaWkGOqB3aGR1YM9Lp0CJDYhS2x2A-TFzCABAcAE2b/BA1wcoSwOVHgTVUu4JF8lyvLVpQQ9DFcQBm+EAEAABY40NZWn1tu1tutclrchuch28F6wVuOHOpA2aaE-w

Power:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhEQNAR8ansISZaWkGOqB3aGJ1YMdMr8CJHIgS+R3A-TVTBAB7pBBSlg6phIw9HGVNARVR5KlVd8kCwSJSZKFwT3AmqWAwBBIAwBwwDnwFuwDP8wXf9nXf91b4hHe4hHuUAbNMC-w

Condition:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhEQNAW7fnsISDaWkGOqB3aGx1YM9JhUCJDYgSWx0A-TFiIABkt/Qa6eCSJDAPpAkUOBo6PMpEk3DCQAgDgd3Ndrbd3d3dv8yLv8yL3yLv8yLvbpA2aaE-w

youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwe3AW1hMqAwwk9JyL876KQ

Hey thanks a lot for your input. I can’t watch the videos now but I will when I get home!

And yeah I don’t really roam much, except if its with a few people, since on my server, going solo can be problematic.

Also I’m poor as kitten right now, so I’d probably just use centaur runes instead of travelers QQ

Rune Choice for Hitter Role:
Rune of Traveler = Always 25% move speed but lack of stat
Rune of Centa = 100more power compared Traveler Rune, Swiftness when heal. Ok for Solo Roam and Team Fight coz u can control the swiftness by simply use heal #6. Criple Dura -50%.
Rune of Pack = 100 more power compared Traveler Rune, Swiftness when hit. Bad for Solo roam but Good for team fight coz Fury Share.

Mesmer Playstyle:
1. Carry
Carry means… Carry. U are carrying ur Team to Victory. U are the one who deal highest damage in ur team and if u are died = Ur team is losing because ur team lose ur DPS.
Example of Build: Shatter Build (Burst based) and Phantasm with GS (DPS Based)
Counter Mechanic: If it’s GS Mes. Just Dive coz GS Mes have zero Mobility. Basically total dive will kill this kind of Mes coz as Carry they will have low Def.

2. Agresive Support with LockDown
You prepare an insane Set up kill with this Role. When interupt u gonna give Immob. This ROle insanely strong at initiation phase or Ambushing people. Killing people is easy if u have this kind of Mes coz the lockdown feature.
Counter Mechanic: Survive the initiation Phase, Use Stability from ur Team. After initiation phase aka when their Mantra entered CD State. They are vulnerable.

3. Tank Or Trolling Role
PU mes have this role. basically they draw enemy attention with their perma Prot and tankiness. With Sword #3 AOE immob this Role can help with set up kill.
Counter Mechanic: Ignore and aim other target but be careful with this Mes Sword #3 AOE immob Leap. If this PU Build has below 2400 DEF Base it’s Ok to go for a Kill. Try strip the Prot first.

4. Defensive Support
This kind of Mes support his/her team. Probably with the utilities like Glamour or Mantra.
Counter Mechanic: Guardian is better at Defensive Support….

These role only work on team play not Zerg Play. Hope that helps.

nearlight.3064:

Hai mesmers.

I’m a necro main with a mesmer alt in a T2 WvW guild focused on fights. I was wondering what gank squad type builds you guys think work well at the moment. I know mesmers aren’t great in wvw, but every group needs at least one for veils and I’d like to be able to jump on it if we don’t have our usual mesmer on or when I get tired of well bombing people into oblivion.

Is the standard great sword and sw/f shatter build 4/4/0/0/6 still ideal to target enemy peripherals? Or is staff a better weapon now that the sword leap got ruined? Furthermore what types of runes gear numbers to hit and tactics do you gank squad veterans employ? Veil definitely needs to be there and I’d assume blink or decoy would be good too.

You said it yourself. Gank Squad in WVW. I would stay away from any condi/hybrid type builds. Guild groups run condi duration food and guardian condi clears are ever present. Focus on a power based build thats bursts like a truck. I run something similar to the below when running in a guild group of 15-25.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNAR8alknpYtNqxMNcrNSqxY6UW5FSOQAl8juB-TlCEwAp2folKFcVCyU5HL1VkcRAarDojmBAPAgGHBgAAIAczbezbezbGA-w

Stay on the fringes and focus the eles and the downs or the opposite gank squad. Note that there are no condi clears so hopefully you have a guardian in your party. But you should be able to survive with PU. Switch torch for pistol if you’re having problems surviving, but pistol 5 is an excellent first strike ability that lets you and your fellow gank squad focus down a target in a few seconds.

Royale.5863:

nearlight.3064:

Hai mesmers.

I’m a necro main with a mesmer alt in a T2 WvW guild focused on fights. I was wondering what gank squad type builds you guys think work well at the moment. I know mesmers aren’t great in wvw, but every group needs at least one for veils and I’d like to be able to jump on it if we don’t have our usual mesmer on or when I get tired of well bombing people into oblivion.

Is the standard great sword and sw/f shatter build 4/4/0/0/6 still ideal to target enemy peripherals? Or is staff a better weapon now that the sword leap got ruined? Furthermore what types of runes gear numbers to hit and tactics do you gank squad veterans employ? Veil definitely needs to be there and I’d assume blink or decoy would be good too.

You said it yourself. Gank Squad in WVW. I would stay away from any condi/hybrid type builds. Guild groups run condi duration food and guardian condi clears are ever present. Focus on a power based build thats bursts like a truck. I run something similar to the below when running in a guild group of 15-25.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNAR8alknpYtNqxMNcrNSqxY6UW5FSOQAl8juB-TlCEwAp2folKFcVCyU5HL1VkcRAarDojmBAPAgGHBgAAIAczbezbezbGA-w

Stay on the fringes and focus the eles and the downs or the opposite gank squad. Note that there are no condi clears so hopefully you have a guardian in your party. But you should be able to survive with PU. Switch torch for pistol if you’re having problems surviving, but pistol 5 is an excellent first strike ability that lets you and your fellow gank squad focus down a target in a few seconds.

Very similar to my Power build except I run mantra of resolve for condition removal or swap out pistol for torch and swap traits. The notion that hybrids are weak in a gank squad simply isn’t true my experience says otherwise, see below.