Leveling guide/tips for new Mesmers/players.

Leveling guide/tips for new Mesmers/players.

in Mesmer

Posted by: Kanto.1659

Kanto.1659

I leveled a mesmer to 80, enjoyed my time, played it for 1300 hours. After a lack of things to keep me interested I decided to make an Asura for RP and went for another Mesmer, because, Mesmers. I then decided to see what difference would it make in the leveling process with 1300 hours of experience behind me.

This is a guide compiling those experiences for new Mesmers. It is a not a level 80 guide nor will it exhaustively dissect traits, but for someone just starting a Mesmer and even for those starting a different character having only recently picked up GW2 it should provide some useful tips.

*
*
*

Leveling tip.

To begin with my most important tip applies to both Mesmers and any other character: do not blindly follow the storyline quest. You will find yourself quickly fighting +4 enemies which is a recipe for disaster. GW2 employs scaling which means there are no grey mobs so prevalent in WoW and other games. If we go to a lower area the enemies will still be challenging and the loot will be appropriate to your level while the enemies will not receive a bonus because they are higher than you (on the contrary, you will do more damage to them because of your better gear and skills/traits). This far outweights the lower XP received from hearts and events.
What this means is that there is no incentive to dash on ahead. A common example I usually bring up is how we finish the first area around level 14 and the next area immediately sets up against levels 16. A bit of progression deeper into the map brings us against 17s and quickly to 20s while we are just getting to level 15-16.

My suggestion? : Head to another starter area and do it instead. This applies at several levels when the leveling slows down as we progress, namely the levels 40 and 50 maps.

*
*
*

What kind of gear?

Expecting the game to drop the gear you want or need is like playing the lotto with as much chances of winning, multiplied by 15 slots.

My suggestion? : Use the Trading Post. Always buy Masterwork (green) gear, armor, accessories, weapons (aquatic as well). It is cheap and you will recoup most of your losses by selling it back to the vendor once you are done with. I swapped my full gear every ten levels and my weapon every five levels, but it is up to personal taste. Masterwork gear opens at level 14 and it is a massive difference when we leave our pele-mele bits of armor to don a complete set of green gear. Personally I also buy blue level 5 gear to tidy me over until level 14.

  • Power is the best to begin with. Do not invest in defensive stats, you will not notice nor need them. The early armor is prefixed Mighty and will have +power. The next one is prefixed Strong and will have both Power and Precision. At level 62-65 Berserker opens. In both armor and accessories (rings, earrings, amulet) put Garnet Pebbles and then Carnelian Nuggets (level 20) when they open up. Eventually Carnelian Lumps (level 35). At level 50 Ruby Shards open and at 65 Ruby Crystals.
  • The same applies to weapons, but, important, buy a minor sigil of Bloodlust (or of Corruption if you go with Condition damage) which grants 5 points of Power for killed enemy. It is very easy to cap it at 25 stacks which is an extra 125 Power and zero reason to not have it. At level 39 the Major Sigil of Bloodlust opens (7 points of Power per dead enemy for a total of 175 Power).
  • If you duel-wield consider a sigil of Fire (or of Earth if going Condition damage) in combination with the Sigil of Bloodlust. But, even if you use only one weapon like the Greatsword or the Staff you can still buy two of them and put the Bloodlust sigil on one and use it until you have 25 kills, then swap to the other weapon with the Sigil of Fire on it (or Earth). I did that but it was a bit of a pain to be quite frank. Simply a Bloodlust sigil on each weapon is quite enough.
  • Your underwater weapon of choice should be the Trident and since it is a Condition weapon I suggest the Earth sigil on it since a lot of sigils do not work underwater. Personally I used the Bloodlust sigil on my underwater weapons as well.
  • New players, you can buy ten slot bags from the TP quite cheaply.

(edited by Kanto.1659)

Leveling guide/tips for new Mesmers/players.

in Mesmer

Posted by: Kanto.1659

Kanto.1659

Is Condition damage viable for leveling?

I tried to level as Condition damage as soon as I could but it did not work too well. The Staff and respective clones did not produce enough conditions. It is doable, it works, but it needlessly slow compared to the Power route. After a few attempts as I shelved the idea to level 40, which is when we can buy our second trait book and can put enough points in Dueling to reach Sharper Images. From then on I leveled as condition damage and it went pretty well, no complaints.

The reason why it works so well is that we can focus more on clones instead of phantasms. Clones can be quickly generated via dodges (20 points in Dueling), the weapon and Mirror Image/Decoy instead of one phantasm every 15 seconds. Since they do no damage Power is useless for them, but Condition affects their bleeds and burns.

My suggestion? : Both Power and Condition are viable after level 40. I suggest trying both since respecs are dirt cheap and gear is not much more expensive than that.
*
*
*
What leveling build?

A very common question is which traits to picks when leveling. There is no quick answer here and the cheapness of respecs pushes to indulge in respeccing often and try everything. There are some ‘must haves’ though, and I suggest picking them first and try them out. Do not do as someone in these forums once complaining about being level 50 and finding Mesmer to be so dull and slow to kill. As it turns out he had not wanted to spend the gold in the second trait book and was rocking a 10 -10 – 10 – 10 – 0 build.

For new players consider that traits are often game changing options. Though we get stats from going down the trait lines it should not be the sole reason to do so. The Deception Evasion trait is a complete game changer and having it will completely modify your game. The extra bounce trait from the Illusion tree will greatly increase your Staff damage and the -20% cooldown reduction weapon traits will make the play game a lot more fluid. Experiment away.

My suggestion? : With the recent buff to HP to Phantasms they have become some very very nice tanks for open world content (AKA leveling). I would suggest a skill layout of Decoy (great to escape sticky situations), Null Field (get rid of annoying long lasting conditions that are keeping us in combat while they tick down) and Signet of Illusions to get your illusions more HP to tank with (it was recently patched to instantly give the extra HP which was not how it worked before).

  • 10 points in Domination will get Crippling Dissipation (clones cripple in AoE when destroyed) which makes soloing a lot of things very easy (and even at 80 it makes for an in-built utility in dungeons that is always up). As a bonus it gives 100 points in Power so those are ten well spent points on both offense and defense.
  • 5 points in Duelist gives Critical Infusion (the Vigor buff when you crit), which you should be doing in a regular basis with Precision in your gear. Vigor grants endurance regen so you will dodge more often. Which coupled with ….
  • Deceptive Evasion (20 points in Duelist), a clone-on-dodge trait, becomes a winning combo with the previously mentioned one. It is also 200 points in Precision, thus more crits.
  • 20 points in Illusion grants Illusionary Elasticity (extra bounce on bouncing attacks) which greatly increases Staff damage, and even the Greatsword’s as Mirror Blade hits like a truck and recharges very quick while also adding another 3% damage to the enemy and 3 stacks of Might to yourself/who is closer to the enemy.

*
*
*

Consumables

Something that is not mentioned often are consumables. Are they worth it? Are they useful? There are a ton of them on the TP and it is difficult to see which ones are useful in that ocean. Most are dirt cheap though.

My suggestion? : Life Leech food. Why life leech food? Because even with the recent nerf (one second internal cooldown between effects) it is a good damage boost (each life leech effect will hurt the enemy for about the same amount you are healed with) and it is a passive heal effect which you will be getting simply by playing normally. Because it is an on-crit effect it will only be useful once you have Precision which means you can hold off and wait until then.

  • Which conveniently is around level 25, when the Strawberry Pie opens. 30 minutes duration, 28% life leech.
  • Cherry Pie opens next at level 40 (36% chance on crit) and Blackberry Pie at level 55 (40% chance on crit + 50 precision. It is what I still use at level 80).
  • Sharpening Stones and Maintenance Oils are also available. You can have both a Stone/Oil and food. Not something I bothered with but the option is there and quite cheap as well.

*
*
*

I hope this will be of some use to new players both to the game and the class. If anyone has questions feel free to ask

(edited by Kanto.1659)

Leveling guide/tips for new Mesmers/players.

in Mesmer

Posted by: Spiderwick.1879

Spiderwick.1879

I have a mesmer alt. Some tips will surely come in handy. Thanks.

Leveling guide/tips for new Mesmers/players.

in Mesmer

Posted by: Wylf.2586

Wylf.2586

Thanks for this guide. As someone who just started playing again (I played a Mesmer on release, but quickly became frustrated by it and stopped in favor of other classes, until I got bored with the game and left completely) it’s really helpful to read through these suggestions.

’twas right, said they, such birds to slay, that bring the fog and mist.

Nilfa, Asura Thief, Devona’s Rest

Leveling guide/tips for new Mesmers/players.

in Mesmer

Posted by: Expiatus.4210

Expiatus.4210

Thank you for the tips.

Anvil Rock – Out manned, out gunned and no repair costs, so Leeroy up and dive in.
See you in Tyria.

Leveling guide/tips for new Mesmers/players.

in Mesmer

Posted by: zaxon.6819

zaxon.6819

i agree with your guide. if people are newer to mmo or gw2 and are having issues staff is an option that adds protection vs multiple mobs. even with slower kills it will be safer. i did not use it while leveling but i do remember my mesmer being kinda squishy ,,, just a suggestion.

Leveling guide/tips for new Mesmers/players.

in Mesmer

Posted by: WGSShaun.9712

WGSShaun.9712

Thanks for a Great Guide, I am using this in addition to a dynamic event leveling guide and getting new armor at level 15,25,35, etc… and weapon every 5 levels is a great system for the first 14 levels i just took whatever i got from drops.
Also in your guide you had one typo… a level 50 player only has 40 Trait points but thank you none the less, we understand what you mean

(edited by WGSShaun.9712)

Leveling guide/tips for new Mesmers/players.

in Mesmer

Posted by: Kanto.1659

Kanto.1659

I’m glad people found some use from it

Leveling guide/tips for new Mesmers/players.

in Mesmer

Posted by: Seras.5702

Seras.5702

I would make a point that the recent patch made the 1st 5 pts in Illusions (which everyone took, even 80s) impossible. It now requires at least lvl 60 and 25pts in the traitline. It was such a strong trait.

I agree with the OP that leveling with pow/prec is better than conditions. I found the 1h sword to be extremely hard hitting and offered nice mobility. And it’s the only weapon which has a trait available with only 10 pts needed (Dueling – Blade Training).

Flixx Gatebuster, Orwynn Lightgrave, Seras Snapdragon
[TTBH] [HATE], Yak’s Bend(NA)

Leveling guide/tips for new Mesmers/players.

in Mesmer

Posted by: Kanto.1659

Kanto.1659

Yes, but it’s such a small guide that the effort to correct it was not in my mind until now.