Guild Wars 2

I started a Mesmer recently and I’ve been playing around the Mists to get the feeling of how the profession works and such, but I feel the profession works in an unorthodox way and I’m looking for general tips and/or stuff that every Mesmer should know or something along these lines.

I started by making a build of 20/20/0/20/10 with everything buffing Phantasms and Greatsword/Sword that I could get.
Though I’m currently using GS/Staff because I found it easy to pop a bunch of illusions with the Staff…

The damage seems… weird to come by except for the Phantasmal Berserker, and even then it is pretty random. I still can’t figure when to use the shatters except Mind Wrack that I use regularly for damage, but it also seems lacking and I have a hard time getting all phantasms up after it.
Multi-target is a nightmare for me, I don’t know where my illusions are or where they’ll go if I shatter them.

So, any tips for a Mesmer newbie?

one thing i’ve found that helped me out is to play around on this site

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/mesmer/?4|1.1g.h14|0.0.0.0.0.0|1n.79.1n.79.1n.79.1n.79.1n.79.1n.79|2s.0.1n.67.1n.67.1n.67.1n.67.8c.67|u17a.k1a.k34.0.0|0.0|e

as for general tips?
on the focus if you cast warden and set a veil underneath him then he will start shooting out condition removal.

the slot skill [mimic] will copy the first ranged attack that hits you, but reflect every other ranged attack after that for 4 seconds.

blink is probably one of our best defensive skills we have, seriously, its amazing

null field will strip boons off of enemies, a lot of people forget this

if you are traited for the off hand pistol then each of the duelist ranged attacks will count as a combo finisher. you can use an ethereal field to rack up massive stacks of confusion this way.

Step 1.
Get used to being the weird class in terms of Damage and CC as well as support.

Step 2.
Understand that Clones and phantasms are tool and not friends like ranger pets.

Step 3.
Think outside the box of what you are doing and watch who you are fighting. Half of what mesmers do is dictated by what we are fighting is doing. If its spamming attacks all the time, put confusion on it with a shatter or attack. If its keeping long range use feedback or blink closer. If it’s trying to CC you with imob or kd, use staff 2 to get right back up or gt out of the way.

Step 4.
always be on the move. Get used to setting up your target for heavy damage, they won’t do it by themselves. Its also very easy for a Mesmer to get behind someone without them even realizing it.

Step 5.
Pick the weapons you like the most an trait for them. a lot of our weapons are terribly slow without traits helping with CDs.

Step 6.
Keep playing, eventually you’ll put 2 and 3 together and things will just start falling into place about skills, timing, and builds.

There are also some guides on the forums of various builds you can try out, but everyone plays differently so experiment as well.

Keep playing mesmer. Keep playing mesmer. Keep playing mesmer.
3 tips.
The more you play them the better the class gets. Utility wins this game in all formats except maybe trash mobing in open world and mesmer is loaded with it. Im still figuring out new things to do. Just traited for mantra heals and now i can aoe heal my party. If i need reflect for something specific i swap that trait out for focus skills reflect. Boom, im awesome for team play in fotm, using full berserker gear.

OMG my friend went down ! Illusionary Wave the melee off of them, start rezing, oh look i made a 3sec reflect bubble on us through another trait so now all those pesky ranged classes (wvw) cant hit us.

Thats tip of the iceberg.
BTW, dump 5 points out of that last tree and add to inspiration. Your phantasms will get another +15% dmg.

Read my leveling guide in the signature, try it. Try everything else. Find your playstyle.

Warning: Playing a Mesmer might result in the loss of interest in other classes.

I totally agree with kai on that last point, I have an 80 necro that I used to love and since starting a mes I haven’t touched the necro except to craft armor/jewels for my mes. As far as lvling focus less on being able to take dmg and learn how to avoid/reflect it, I think this is key. Personally I run a classic 10/30/0/0/30 shatter build with a gs and sword/sword with a focus in my bag. battle goes like this: gs2, gs4, dodge roll mind wrack, decoy, switch to sword, sword 3-3, sword 2, mind wrack nearly any group of foes in pve will have died by that point if not switch back to gs and hit 5 before starting over =)