Guild Wars 2

Dear mesmers,

I’d like some help with a mesmer build for leveling (by map clearing).
When doing sPvP and WvW i love my mesmer, and i have no issues there.
But when it comes to PvE, i feel so weak and underpowered. Is there any builds that make it easier to kill things while map clearing? As at the moment, as soon as i face more than 3 enemies i will have some ‘issues’.

Thanks in advance

Personally, by level 40 you should have a handle on what playstyle you want, but since you didn’t clarify, I’ll give my opinion on the fastest way to clear maps (you did mention that) Use GS/sword/focus. Get mostly zerker gear with knights to fill in any survival issue you might have. If that is not enough and you still die, slow it down and replace the sword/focus with a staff.

Utilities I found most useful while leveling were decoy, blink, feedback or Mirror Images, TW. Traits: Deceptive Evasion (Dueling 20); Illusionist Celerity, Ill. Invigoration (Illusion 10); Crippling Dissipation (Dom 10) in that order. After that whatever you feel like. Shatter often.

Haha, sorry I did indeed miss out on some information there. I’m actually using the exact weapon combinations you’re using atm. It seems that GS autoattack is the one that does the most damage. It’s just i have such an underpowered feeling compared to my Warrior , Ranger and Ele. Thanks alot anyway, will definitely try the traits out.

Here is my recommendation:

At level 40.
20 in Dueling (iv, x)
10 in Illusions (i or ii)

from 40-50
10 in Domination (i)

from 50-59
9 more to domination

At level 60 respect (grandmaster book)
20 in Dueling (iv, x)
30 in illusions (i or ii, vii, xi)

level 61-70
10 in Domination (i)

70-80
10 more in Domination (x)

With this spec you don’t get the Greatsword training until late, but the other traits are just too good. If this bothers you go 20 Dueling, 10 illusions, 20 domination, then fill out illusions, but personally I think Illusionary Persona is one of the best traits in the game.

Why do you say Illusionary Persona is one of the best in the game?

IP is great because it adds an extra punch to all shatters while in melee range, plus you can shatter even without any clones up. This is invaluable as a defensive tool, meaning you can become invulnerable or daze foes on demand as long as you have the CD. Also, you can CoF/MW back to back to add extra confusion/DD to any shatter attack.

So many possibilities.

Gaiawolf.8261:

IP is great because it adds an extra punch to all shatters while in melee range, plus you can shatter even without any clones up. This is invaluable as a defensive tool, meaning you can become invulnerable or daze foes on demand as long as you have the CD. Also, you can CoF/MW back to back to add extra confusion/DD to any shatter attack.

So many possibilities.

This is essentially what I was thinking. You get more damage out of your mind wrack (I believe it scales to 4 clones) plus being able to hit diversion / distortion even if you don’t have clones up to get out of a “oh kitten” situation is priceless. Of course it’s less valuable with a phantasm build.

Thanks a lot for al the answers!