Guild Wars 2

Lazy Kai’s Leveling Guide: Updated 2013/06/27

Leveling as a Mesmer is – unfortunately – not as lazy as most other classes. So before you can get lazy, you will have to make your way to the pinnacle of existence, known as level 80.

There are several stages in the ascend of a new Mesmer, and I will try to cover the shifts as simple as possible.

What grinds my gears:

Armor: Power is what you want as primary stat. Secondary is Precision. If both is on the armor, perfect. Leveling is all about killing things fast, this will help.
Personal advise: Armor is cheap on the trading post, most of the time, you can get level accurate stuff for about the same coin it will give you back when you sell it to a merchant. Keep your gear up-to-date.

Weapon: Greatsword + Sword/Focus, same stats/advise as armor.

Leveling: Beginner Stage 1-40

Step 1: Level to 10, not much to explain here, grab every weapon you can use and kill stuff. Get Decoy as your first slot skill, Mirror Images as your second. Healing skill stays Ether Feast.

Step 2: From now on, put your first 10 trait points into Dueling, where you want to pick IV Blade Training.
The third slot skill is personal choice, I would recommend Signet of Inspiration.

Step 3: Put the following 10 trait points into Domination, with I Mental Torment as major. The left-over trait points will go into Illusions where you want to pick up I Precise Wrack (until you get a chance to retrait).
Elite skill of choice is Time Warp.

General playstyle:

Start with your Greatsword from distance, using Attack1 (Spatial Surge), followed by Attack 2 (Mirror Blade) and Attack 4 (Phantasmal Berserker).
Switch to Sword/Focus, get in range and use Attack 3 !twice! (Illusionary Leap + Swap). Time for F1 (Mind Wrack). Cast Attack 5 (Phantasmal Warden) and than Attack 2 (Blurred Frenzy). If the mob health is already low, you can skip Attack 5.

When traited Sword with level 20, things should die faster – Sword will hit 3 targets at once, so it is prefered for leveling as long as you miss the real punch of endgame gear.
Mirror Images and Decoy are both clone generators, so if you are short one or two for a full shatter, use the skills. Decoy is also an out-of-jail card.

Leveling: Advanced Stage 40-60

Time to retrait: Put 20 trait points in Dueling (I Blade Training, X Deceptive Evasion) and 10 trait points in Domination (I Mental Torment).
Switch skill slot Mirror Images with Blink. You now generate clones on dodging, should be enough shatter material without Mirror Images.

The next 10 trait points go in Domination for X Greatsword Training, after that, all in Illusions.

General playstyle:

Open with Greatsword Attack1, followed by 2 and 4, dodge to the target (dodge clones will always target the closest enemy), F1 shatter (F2, if F1 is on cooldown).
Switch to Sword/Focus, and finish off the mob.

Leveling: Final Stage 60-80

Time to retrait again: Dueling 20 (same traits), Illusions 30 (I Precise Wrack, III Compounding Power, XI Illusionary Persona).

All following trait points go into Domination (I Mental Torment), on 80, switch to Lazy Kai’s PvE Build.

General playstyle:

Playstyle stays the same as before, but as you now count as clone too, you will do way more damage. Get used to distances and timing, as you will change to Greatsword (shortened cooldown) when you reach 80 and Sword itself becomes a secondary option.

Hope this helps. ^^

FAQ:

Why using the focus as off-hand?

The focus is the Mesmer’s swiss army pocket knife. I normaly only talk about the run buff, but it has the greatest amount of utility of all available off-hands:

- run buff
- cripple
- pull/knockdown
- combo field (light) -> Retaliation
- AoE with fairly long duration and great damage, phantasm will still do damage even if the target dies (as long as the animation goes on)
- defensive bubble, protecting from all projectiles

Kai’s Go Go Power Ranger Build

I have been asked if there is a pure ranged build with GS several times lately and yes, there is. It does insane damage from range and the best part is – if you have been a follower of the Lazy Kai Build – you won’t have to get any new gear.

Armor and weapon: Same as Lazy Kai Build (see above).

Traits: 30/30/0/0/10

Domination 30: Time to put some Power in this Ranger!

I Mental Torment: 20% more shared pain.
III Empowered Illusions: The life of an iZerker is short and full of pain.
X Greatsword Training: Our tool for sharing the pain, as sharing means caring.

Dueling 30: Power Rangers need to be good at dueling!

II Phantsmal Fury: The life of an iZerker is short and full of pain – Part II.
X Deceptive Evasion: Noone ever asks if clones feel pain, when you blow them up…
XI Empowering Mantras: Ha, no Mantra of Pain for you!

Illusions 10: No, Power Rangers are REAL!

III Compounding Power: Rule #1: If you play as a team, you will cause more pain.

Skills: We need to do funky moves, before we can share the pain!

Mantra of Recovery: Painkiller
Mantra of Concentration: No one can stop a Power Ranger!
Mantra of Resolve: I said, no one can stop a Power Ranger!
Mantra of Distraction: Secret ninja move.
Time Warp: Who pushed fast forward again?

Genereal GS playstyle:

After zoning: charge mantras
Attack 1: get aggro so the mob does not kill clones
Attack 2: clone (and tagging event mobs)
Attack 4: iZerker (and tagging more event mobs)
Dodge away from target: clone (and keeping distance for Spatial Surge)
F1: shatter

For tough veterans and elite mobs, avoid shatter and keep three illusions up as distraction.

As with every mantra build, your utility is restricted to them. While Mantra of Pain is pretty much a failure in terms of damage (and you do not want to use your mantras most of the time anyway), the other mantras offer good help to keep distance (which we need for max damage on Spatial Surge).

In PvE, single mobs will die fast, really fast. While this build offers less flexibility than the Lazy Kai Build, it will let you sit in the back and watch things die from save distance in group play (for heavy DE farming, i still recommend to go with the Lazy Kai Build).

Thanks for the build! I will try out when I get home :-)

I have a few questions:

1, how staff sounds as a secondary weapon? Not much a melee distance player but i read somewhere staff do not benefit much from pwr. But i like to stay in range, scepter maybe?

2. how is GS since patch (bugs, reduced dmg)?

3. as an option, armor like knight’s with a bit of thougness for dungeons and WvW?

4. how is this build works out in WvW? (just tend to run lately and wondering)

You love to melee? You know every encounter ingame better than the names of your family members? You have the reaction time of a next gen CPU?
Great I highly recommend you to run a 0/20/0/25/25 specc, nothing is more efficient for a mesmer aiming for melee.

You are a normal being who plays for fun and not for a GW2 diploma? You still like melee? You love the mesmer and want to enjoy encounters alive?
Good news, Lazy Kai made a melee specc for you that is forgiving and yet efficient.

Welcome to Kai’s Close Combatant Build.

Traits: 0/30/15/25/0

Dueling 30: Come closer!

II Phantasmal Fury: I brought a friend!
IV Blade Training: This is my sword. There are many like it, but this one is mine!
X Deceptive Evasion: Wait, I brought an squad!

Chaos 15: Cannon fodder!

V Debilitating Dissipation: It wasn’t me…

Inspiration 25: Medic!

IV Menders Purity: Ain’t got time to bleed.
VIII Wardens Feedback: I think this is yours…

Armor: While you can adapt to your playstyle, I recommend to simply start with Berserker.
Rune: Still testing, but as always, you can start with Superior Rune of the Centaur x6 for them being cheap and useful in PvE.

Weapon1: Berserker’s Sword/Sword, still testing sigils though. Most people have their own preferances anyway. If you are not sure, simply put Air in mainhand.

Weapon2: Scepter/Focus as standard. This will give you a ranged option, plus all the reflects and utility from your focus. Feel free to switch to mainhand sword or offhand pistol depending on the situation and knowledge of an encounter.

Skills: Adapt to the situation, a standard layout could look like this.

Ether Feast: Healing is sort of important…
Blink: Out of jail card.
Phantasmal Defender: It’s dangerous out there, take this!
Signet of Inspiration: Sharing means caring!
Time Warp: Let’s do the time warp again!

Playstyle:

1. Get close.
2. Cast Phantasm(s)
3. Beat the kitten out of the mobs.

You will automatically refine your gameplay over time, but for the start this will be enough. ^^

You might want to consider slightly reworking this build, since desperate decoy is such a waste of a trait point. This can be easily tweaked into a max damage mantra build. I would go for heal mantra, mantra of pain (damage), mantra of resolve (condition cleanse) and then either mantra of concentration (break stun and stability), or decoy as previously mentioned. Since the build is pvm, you don’t even have to worry about maximum efficiency with mantras using domination 30 traits, you just need the 4% extra damage with dueling 30.

Additionally, you can swap out readied mantras for other utility skills, so if you happen to butt heads with a young karka or something, you can quickly swap out for mimic or feedback. With the 12% extra damage from 3 mantras, and 9% extra damage from illusions, you can just nuke things with greatsword autos and mirror blade, especially in dungeons and whatnot.

Starting a day with casting half an hour of mantras, no that’s not the lazy way. Mantras are in fact the opposite of lazy. They are time-consuming and pretty much useless most of the time.
I see where you are coming from, but mantras are not fun at all at PvE.

Kaiyanwan.8521:

Starting a day with casting half an hour of mantras, no that’s not the lazy way. Mantras are in fact the opposite of lazy. They are time-consuming and pretty much useless most of the time.
I see where you are coming from, but mantras are not fun at all at PvE.

Well, the reason why they are fine in PvE, is because you never actually have to use them, so you just charge them up then completely forget they exist.

Pyroatheist.9031:

Kaiyanwan.8521:

Starting a day with casting half an hour of mantras, no that’s not the lazy way. Mantras are in fact the opposite of lazy. They are time-consuming and pretty much useless most of the time.
I see where you are coming from, but mantras are not fun at all at PvE.

Well, the reason why they are fine in PvE, is because you never actually have to use them, so you just charge them up then completely forget they exist.

Yeah, more dmg but you have to give up too much for a pure glass cannon setup. Lazy does not mean damage only, it means a simple solution for most situations.
For your setup you have to give up Blink, Decoy and Feedback. Glass cannon does not equal simplicity though.

My setup is ment to be an easy going build with utility skills for any situation, that still got enough punch to solo content in a matter of seconds.

This is pretty much my build and strategy. Now I feel like I’m being lazy.

Time for me to go try a shatter build.

Awesome guide though, and very flavorful to read. +1 for you.

Lazy? If I follow your logic, every class is lazy.

Miku Lawrence.6329:

Lazy? If I follow your logic, every class is lazy.

that’s whats so beautiful about this game ^^

Lazy? More like faaaaabuloooouuuuus!

Kaiyanwan,
Thank you for this guide! I just rolled a Mesmer for the sole purpose of being lazy! (ports in Wv3 ftw!) I will be using every part of that build; mostly because I am too lazy to keep looking and it looks like maybe what I sort of been looking for.

I find glass canon builds are not very effective in dungeons as there can be lots of AOE and other random damage that is very hard to avoid or unavoidable.

With full berserker’s armour, weapons and jewellery, you will only have about 15K HP with no toughness.

Xavi.6591:

I find glass canon builds are not very effective in dungeons as there can be lots of AOE and other random damage that is very hard to avoid or unavoidable.

With full berserker’s armour, weapons and jewellery, you will only have about 15K HP with no toughness.

I would simply make the argument that being good at dodging turns most bosses into a joke, but arguably if you were both good at dodging, and used a less fragile build, you could probably be effectively boss at bossing bosses around.

Xavi.6591:

I find glass canon builds are not very effective in dungeons as there can be lots of AOE and other random damage that is very hard to avoid or unavoidable.

With full berserker’s armour, weapons and jewellery, you will only have about 15K HP with no toughness.

Are you crazy? I love glass cannon dungeon running. I dont die very often, sadly usually less than other group members

Hey there, thanks for the replies, just wanted to give a bit Feedback (which I have hotkeyed to “C”)!

GraynX.8947:

Kaiyanwan,
Thank you for this guide! I just rolled a Mesmer for the sole purpose of being lazy! (ports in Wv3 ftw!) I will be using every part of that build; mostly because I am too lazy to keep looking and it looks like maybe what I sort of been looking for.

I would be interested in how you get along with the specc in Wv3. As I said, it is mostly a PvE guide.

Xavi.6591:

I find glass canon builds are not very effective in dungeons as there can be lots of AOE and other random damage that is very hard to avoid or unavoidable.

With full berserker’s armour, weapons and jewellery, you will only have about 15K HP with no toughness.

Well it is not a pure glass cannon build, as it has a fair amount of out of jail cards like Blink and Decoy. Pure glass cannon would be a mantra build, but that’s a different story.

For PvE I have used this build in FotM up to level 10 and in most cases it did surpisingly well. Fireboss might be an exception though.
This game is all about dodging, if you are good at it, most damage can be completely avoided.

Updated the guide, after the last patch made the iZerker more or less as useless as a clone in PvE (low damage and about 1.5 sec till he starts his attack). This feels more and more like a feature and not a bug…
As he is still OK for tagging mobs in events, I placed him earlier in the rotation.

Hope you like it.

Kaiyanwan.8521:

Updated the guide, after the last patch made the iZerker more or less as useless as a clone in PvE (low damage and about 1.5 sec till he starts his attack). This feels more and more like a feature and not a bug…
As he is still OK for tagging mobs in events, I placed him earlier in the rotation.

Hope you like it.

H

Can still combo mirror blade + zerker to get 2 illusions on target at roughly the same time, then immediate shatter for a bit of burst aoe.

Pyroatheist.9031:

Kaiyanwan.8521:

Updated the guide, after the last patch made the iZerker more or less as useless as a clone in PvE (low damage and about 1.5 sec till he starts his attack). This feels more and more like a feature and not a bug…
As he is still OK for tagging mobs in events, I placed him earlier in the rotation.

Hope you like it.

Can still combo mirror blade + zerker to get 2 illusions on target at roughly the same time, then immediate shatter for a bit of burst aoe.

Kaiyanwan.8521:

Genereal GS playstyle:
Attack 1: get aggro so the mob does not kill clones
Attack 2: clone (and tagging event mobs)
Attack 4: iZerker (and tagging more event mobs
Dodge to target: clone (and closing gap for max shatter dmg)
F1: shatter

I thought this was my plan anyway. Attack 2 on your hotbar = Mirror Blade. Then Attack 4 which is iZerker.
Dodge to the target, so that the iZerker has enough time for one attack sequenz and generating a clone, do a full 4 shatter on the mob.

Kaiyanwan.8521:

Starting a day with casting half an hour of mantras, no that’s not the lazy way. Mantras are in fact the opposite of lazy. They are time-consuming and pretty much useless most of the time.
I see where you are coming from, but mantras are not fun at all at PvE.

Mantra of Recovery + Centaur runes is really incredible. You get swiftness when charging the mantra. You get it when using the heal. The swiftness CD is really 15s instead of 10s, though. At present, I’m running with 20 in Chaos — experimenting with Staff CD-20% trait. So, I get 14s swiftness every 15s. I basically always have swiftness up unless I’m in a fight and want to save skill/6 for healing.

I’ll probably give up the Chaos for Illusions eventually, but those extra 2s of swiftness will be missed.

Unfortunately, I also like Mender’s Purity (heal cures a condition). So, now my heal key is rather overloaded: heal, swiftness, condition removal. It’s the laziest key around. I just need to put some damage on it and I’d never have to use another key.

Hi I am very new to mesmer… and i was just wondering what weapon is this build for?

DrewRus.5431:

Hi I am very new to mesmer… and i was just wondering what weapon is this build for?

Greatsword, read the post and you will see.

Kaiyanwan: For lazy build you have loads of reading. I like your build so I made rotation picture & link.

Build link (forum doesn’t allow “;” on link so I can not link build with gear, see OP’s post for runes, etc) : http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQJAxdlwzipXUzqGa9ICqHaH29dkU0apWJF42FC

Lazy mesmer rotation picture:

I like it. Seems the best option for a lazy player such as myself.

how can anyone make a pve build without including warden’s feedback?

it’s a massive group utility coupled to the strongest AOE weapon mesmers have in the game, and the projectile reflect in world events beats out any source of damage including 100 blades.

put up that focus wall and watch entire groups of ranged in DE’s just melt themselves (now THAT is LAZY), and in dungeons, between the warden, the focus wall, and feedback you can shut down ranged 75% of the time.

Kaiyanwan.8521:

Pyroatheist.9031:

Kaiyanwan.8521:

Updated the guide, after the last patch made the iZerker more or less as useless as a clone in PvE (low damage and about 1.5 sec till he starts his attack). This feels more and more like a feature and not a bug…
As he is still OK for tagging mobs in events, I placed him earlier in the rotation.

Hope you like it.

Can still combo mirror blade + zerker to get 2 illusions on target at roughly the same time, then immediate shatter for a bit of burst aoe.

Kaiyanwan.8521:

Genereal GS playstyle:
Attack 1: get aggro so the mob does not kill clones
Attack 2: clone (and tagging event mobs)
Attack 4: iZerker (and tagging more event mobs
Dodge to target: clone (and closing gap for max shatter dmg)
F1: shatter

I thought this was my plan anyway. Attack 2 on your hotbar = Mirror Blade. Then Attack 4 which is iZerker.
Dodge to the target, so that the iZerker has enough time for one attack sequenz and generating a clone, do a full 4 shatter on the mob.

My combo was more for instantaneous 1200 range burst damage. In Orr events, and other situations, you don’t necessarily have time/want to close that 1200 range, and 2+4+ shatter provides you with a fast burst from 1200 range. It’s obviously not optimal damage, but it is 1200 range.

Defora.3694:

DrewRus.5431:

Hi I am very new to mesmer… and i was just wondering what weapon is this build for?

Greatsword, read the post and you will see.

Kaiyanwan: For lazy build you have loads of reading. I like your build so I made rotation picture & link.

Build link (forum doesn’t allow “;” on link so I can not link build with gear, see OP’s post for runes, etc) : http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQJAxdlwzipXUzqGa9ICqHaH29dkU0apWJF42FC

Lazy mesmer rotation picture:

Wow, thats awesome, thx. If it is ok, I will try to place the picture in my guide as soon as I have a bit more time on my hand. Not entirely sure how much I can still fit in there, as it is already fairly long… ^^

plasmacutter.2709:

put up that focus wall and watch entire groups of ranged in DE’s just melt themselves

And if the terrain isn’t flat, it’s likely to do nothing.

Pyroatheist.9031:

Kaiyanwan.8521:

Pyroatheist.9031:

Kaiyanwan.8521:

Updated the guide, after the last patch made the iZerker more or less as useless as a clone in PvE (low damage and about 1.5 sec till he starts his attack). This feels more and more like a feature and not a bug…
As he is still OK for tagging mobs in events, I placed him earlier in the rotation.

Hope you like it.

Can still combo mirror blade + zerker to get 2 illusions on target at roughly the same time, then immediate shatter for a bit of burst aoe.

Kaiyanwan.8521:

Genereal GS playstyle:
Attack 1: get aggro so the mob does not kill clones
Attack 2: clone (and tagging event mobs)
Attack 4: iZerker (and tagging more event mobs
Dodge to target: clone (and closing gap for max shatter dmg)
F1: shatter

I thought this was my plan anyway. Attack 2 on your hotbar = Mirror Blade. Then Attack 4 which is iZerker.
Dodge to the target, so that the iZerker has enough time for one attack sequenz and generating a clone, do a full 4 shatter on the mob.

My combo was more for instantaneous 1200 range burst damage. In Orr events, and other situations, you don’t necessarily have time/want to close that 1200 range, and 2+4+ shatter provides you with a fast burst from 1200 range. It’s obviously not optimal damage, but it is 1200 range.

Ah I see. Sure, I do this too depending on the situation. Obviously I could only give an idea how to play this build by giving a general rotation.
To be honest, I run this build most of the time myself, but in a way more active manner, using all shatter abilities and weapon swapping.
Nontheless, imho, if you starting to play your mesmer like described in the guide, you can be very efficient the easy way.

Easy to learn, not too hard to master. And still adaptable to the way you like to play by choosing your own second weaponset. Fair play.

This is pretty much exactly what I have been running with for most PvE. Only difference is I swap out a full zerker armor set for 3/6 valkyrie and 3/6 knights while keeping zerker weapons and jewelery.

Wow, the patch was awesome! At least for this build.
All the might, all the damage. You can take down groups of mobs in a heartbeat. I feel nearly as strong as playing on my warrior alt from time to time.

Playstyle stays the same, but you may want to drop Feedback for Signet of Inspiration. While one boon every 10 sec is not overwhelming, working now out of combat, I still think it is worth it.

Kai, how do I get the might stacks and maintain the duration for them with your build? I find it hard to keep the might stacks up

I can get up to 24 stacks of might for a short duration with this build. Realistically you can upkeep 12-15 stacks if you use both weapon sets, F1 and F2 and good timing with your clones on dodge.
12 stacks should be maintainable with just the GS and shatter F1 and F2 in theory, but I need a bit more time to practice (have too much to do right now in RL to spend much time online).

http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mVmz9fGf0pacaMVoc08kir7070m7kGJ70V7ofD70m

I’ve been running this build, sitting full zerkers with 1 piece knight 1 piece valk rune of air and sigil of fire
I sit back spamming gs1 at max range which does about 10k total damage if you add all 3 hits up then I just spam iZerk only and the Izerker is doing about 30k total damage through one attack sequence, i was wondering how this build would go if i had might stacks

Neko.1860:

http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mVmz9fGf0pacaMVoc08kir7070m7kGJ70V7ofD70m

I’ve been running this build, sitting full zerkers with 1 piece knight 1 piece valk rune of air and sigil of fire
I sit back spamming gs1 at max range which does about 10k total damage if you add all 3 hits up then I just spam iZerk only and the Izerker is doing about 30k total damage through one attack sequence, i was wondering how this build would go if i had might stacks

Your build is pretty much a phantasm build, so you wouldn’t want to shatter your illusions.
On a side note, the damage numbers add up on the fly, so you do the last number of an attack sequence, as does the iZerker – not the sum of them.

Oh I see, then my zerker is doing 15k and my GS1 is doing like 4k

Well, my numbers after patch are more like iZerker between 3500 and 5500 and GS1 on max range about 1200 to 1500.

If your iZerker is doing 15k dmg, it would be instagib on most PvE solo mobs.

30k damage zerker? On a rabbit maybe?
You’re not adding all the numbers you see, are you? iBerserker hits 4 times and the last number you see is the total.
Spatial surge hit 3 times in a row, the last number is the total for the whole attack, don’t add them up.

I pretty much do on mobs my level, although i’ve been hitting these numbers in fractal 7 so far

I have a kittenload of stuff to translate from Japanese till tomorrow and here is already past 9 pm, otherwise I would login and get you some numbers.
I will give you some numbers tomorrow, with gear und setup details, OK?

Holy guacamole, this Guide is perfect for me. Lazy people ftw!

Kaiyanwan.8521:

Updated version, Dezember patch.

The mesmer class can be incredibly complex and whatever, but sometimes you just want to run around and have fun. Killing things in PvE gets old fast anyway, so the faster the mobs die, the better. Now, if the mobs die fast because you use your keybord like a korean StarCraft player, good for you. I am lazy though, so here is my advise:

Traits: 20/20/0/0/30

Domination 20: Power is good, things die faster!

I. Mental Torment: Shattering stuff is like one lazy click for four attacks
X. Greatsword Training: The only weapon you need as a lazy player!

Dueling 20: More crits less hits!

II: Phantasmal Fury: More dmg, less clicks!
X: Deceptive Evasion: Dodge Clone? Lazier than using any skill!

Illusions 30: Dmg!

I: Precise Wrack: High five (well actually four) clones to the face!
III: Compounding Power: More dmg, more time for fun things!
XI: Illusionary Persona: No target and no aiming needed, just go boom!

Armor: Berserker for all slots, we are too lazy to search for something else!
Rune: Superior Rune of the Centaur x6. More power, more bleeding dmg, runspeedbuff after healing, cheap? As lazy as it gets!

Extra lazy advise: Zhed’s Armor is exactly what you want!

Weapon1: Berserker’s Greatsword gets it all done, no need for other fancy stuff!
Sigil: Superior Sigil of Air for more damage, and it is cheap too.

Weapon2: What ever rocks your boat, you won’t need it anyway. Personal advise? Go Whatever/Focus, now you can have the runspeed buff up 24/7, no more wasting time.

Skills:
Ether Feast: Healing – good, more healing with clones – lazy.
Blink: The lazy way to get out of trouble.
Decoy: “Nah, I have no time for that”-skill, or if you are in a group: “Who wants aggro?”
Feedback: Hey ranged mob, I’m too lazy right now, go kill yourself! I’m looking at you young karka.
Time Warp: Twice the speed, double the lazy!

Most important advise for lazy players:
Go Options/Combat: Activate Fast-Cast Ground Targeting!
Clicking twice for an attack, sounds like a chore!

Genereal GS playstyle:
Attack 1: get aggro so the mob does not kill clones
Attack 2: clone (and tagging event mobs)
Attack 4: iZerker (and tagging more event mobs
Dodge to target: clone (and closing gap for max shatter dmg)
F1: shatter

Every normal mob is now dead.
Veteran, just go on: generate more clones/ iZerker and shatter.
Boss, if AoE dmg, go with rotation, if no AoE dmg, be extra lazy, avoid shatters let iZerkers do the dmg (looks like ANet mostly fixed it).

Attack 3 is mainly for tagging mobs for extra loot, no targeting needed, sounds lazy.
Attack 5 is useful if you feel funny and fight more than 2 mobs.

This lazy setup works perfectly fine in groups and dungeons too. So you may want to give it a try (ran FotM lvl10 with it without too much trouble).
If you want to tell me that if you utilize a second weapon to max whatever, I will be too lazy to read it.

Have fun – the lazy way!

Thanks, first time I actually got to read your post..Love it! Every GS Mesmer needs to read this, or at least the lazy ones.

Kaiyanwan.8521:

Neko.1860:

http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mVmz9fGf0pacaMVoc08kir7070m7kGJ70V7ofD70m

I’ve been running this build, sitting full zerkers with 1 piece knight 1 piece valk rune of air and sigil of fire
I sit back spamming gs1 at max range which does about 10k total damage if you add all 3 hits up then I just spam iZerk only and the Izerker is doing about 30k total damage through one attack sequence, i was wondering how this build would go if i had might stacks

Your build is pretty much a phantasm build, so you wouldn’t want to shatter your illusions.
On a side note, the damage numbers add up on the fly, so you do the last number of an attack sequence, as does the iZerker – not the sum of them.

Please compare and contrast both builds for PvE and WvW.

Here is the build (OP build):

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-Ng-3d;0VPVz007BVV71;9;4JJ;0T09-19;502AI-k0S;16Rk06Rk05Bi

Cempa.5619:

Thanks, first time I actually got to read your post..Love it! Every GS Mesmer needs to read this, or at least the lazy ones.

I’m happy you like it. The build you posted looks fairly similar though. Im not the biggest fan of Null Field, I prefer Arcane Thievery. Also blink never goes off my skillbar.
But this are just minor adjustments.

So… that’s a great build and all. But as a level 30.. where should i be at right now trait point wise?

leveling my mesmer and definitely prefer GS over staff, how do this build fare in Wv3?

Lohkey.3976:

So… that’s a great build and all. But as a level 30.. where should i be at right now trait point wise?

Go 20 Dueling for dodge clones would be my advise. Next 5 to Illusions and than 20 to Domination. After that fill up Illusions.

rchu.8945:

leveling my mesmer and definitely prefer GS over staff, how do this build fare in Wv3?

It is OK, but you are fairly fragile. I prefer to use Mass Invisibility as elite in Wv3 and stay in second line with this build. If you are into dueling, look at Osicat Shatter Cat build over here:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/guide-WvWvW-Shatter-cat/first#post673554

Kaiyanwan.8521:

rchu.8945:

leveling my mesmer and definitely prefer GS over staff, how do this build fare in Wv3?

It is OK, but you are fairly fragile. I prefer to use Mass Invisibility as elite in Wv3 and stay in second line with this build. If you are into dueling, look at Osicat Shatter Cat build over here:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/guide-WvWvW-Shatter-cat/first#post673554

thanks for the quick reply, I really prefer the GS as main weapon, but since I am new to the Mesmer community, is Osicat’s build the cookie-cutter build to succeed in Wv3? I swear I see more GS mesmers running around in Wv3 than staff mesmers…