Guild Wars 2

Hello fellow Mesmers,

I recently got into tPvP on my Mesmer(only r30), and have been experiencing some…serious difficulties. I usually perform very well in hotjoin, but tPvP seems to be an entirely differently beast. I currently run a Gs/Staff shatter build, and would, as far as possible, like to continue using a shatter build. Here is a list of the problems I’m facing:

1) Thieves. I knew that thieves are supposed to be the hard counter to Mesmers, but I never knew they were THIS hard. Bad thieves are killable, but I basically die in about 2-3 hits to a good thief. I usually react fast enough to get a blink/phase retreat off, but then they just Shadowstep and kill me. It is incredibly frustrating; I often feel like there’s nothing I could have done, especially if they get the jump on me. In fact, whenever there’s a good thief on the opposing side ( which is very often ), I just feel like a complete liability to my team.

2) Any class with high survivability that can put out serious damage (eg. Hambow Warrior…or warriors in general, really, turret (?) engineer). Even if I get a perfect burst off, I can’t kill them, but they obviously can easily kill me.

3) Staying on point. Often I find myself unable to stay on the point to prevent a decap/cap; if I try to, I die.

Would anyone have any suggestions on how to ameliorate the above problems? I don’t expect to be able to 1v1 pwn a thief or a hambow, but I would like to not die before I can even get them below half hp.

Moreover, I would like to ask:
A) What exactly is the role of a Mesmer in tPvP? That is, what does the Mesmer bring to the table that another class doesn’t do better? It seems, to my very inexperienced eyes, that aside from portal, some other class can do everything we do, but better (eg. Thief for roaming, hambow for smashing stuff). I’ve had more than a few people telling me to “reroll a real PvP class”…

B) How should a shatter mesmer move in tPvP? It’s a very broad and vague question, I know, but any tips would be greatly appreciated. Should I gravitate towards teamfights, instead of pushing potentially guarded points alone? Should I run away from all 1vX, even if it means losing the point?(assuming backup cannot arrive within the next 10 seconds.)

Thank you so much for your help.

I would suggest you watch some higher tier mesmer gameplay. One off the top of my head would be helseth. Shatter mes is usually roamer. Although this is an old video this is exactly how shatter mes should be played.

If someone was heading home and it was just me i would assume it will eventually get decapped due to 2 distortions and decoy, but if i know i can win the 1v1 i would win and recap.

As far as how you should move, normally what i do is watch for free caps and try to sneak over. of course sometimes you get caught, but if you can kite some back to their home base i think that’s a win. Otherwise help your team burst down targets from around the sidelines.

I’m not very good with explanations but this is just my 2 cents! I’m sure someone else will be able to explain it better.

edit: i completely forgot that supcutie released a mesmer guide. its a pretty good read. lots of good tips and tricks. http://bit.ly/mesmerguide

I went through the guide again and looked it up for you. as far as dealing with thieves in tpvp you should read page 45 of this guide. Hope it helps!

So, another mesmer is joining the tPvP branch – so I welcome you in here. Let’s say, we are not a lot of mesmers, at least that’s my experience when I join tPvP.

So regarding the thiefs, they are our Achilles’ heel. Like you said bad ones can be killed but good ones dodge, stealth and port every attempt to deal damage to them. And now with the “new” condition thiefs, they’re almost not killable. Try to remember the following: always try to engage the thief first, not vice versa. Also if you see you have no chance, at least try to get away. In team fights you should focus the thief and kill him asap, otherwise he’ll kill you.

Another point which refers to fights versus every class is you HAVE TO MOVE. Don’t stay still. You have to do a lot of repositioning. Use the terrain to your advantage, get out of sight for a few secs to get a skill ready or to heal. You can even run away from the point, ‘cause in a 1v1, your opponent will stay on the point to cap and won’t chase you. Return invisible or from another side and make a new attempt.
That brings us to your third point: on point fighting. It’s not possible for a Mesmer to stay on a point, hold it long enough and don’t get killed. Like you said if you do, you die.
And if you can’t kill one alone, ask your team for help – it’s called tPvP for a reason. You rarely have a chance for a 1v1. Even if it started like one, after a short time you or your opponent will have support.

For what I experienced the role of a Mesmer is a supporter. You deal damage, interrupt stomps or heals, you have a ton of useful conditions (e.g. cripple, vulnerability, poison) and you also have useful boons for your team. A well placed chaosstorm during a mid fight works wonders. And don’t underestimate the portal. It can bring support from one point to another and you can use it for your retreat if you’re almost going down. And you can play wonderful mind games since your opponent has to stay on the point where you placed the portal and so he can’t support his team on another point. If he doesn’t stay, you can use it and decap the point.

Your movement depends on the situation. I roam always between our capped points to support 1v1 or 1vX. If you’re about to lose the point, escape and go elsewhere. If you see all enemy units are occupied, you can at least decap their point and sometimes even cap it. You need to watch your teammates healthbars and the map to see where your needed or were is a free cap. And you should get a “feeling” for what your opponents team will do next. If they lost a mid fight, there’s a high chance that they’ll try one of the outer points (mostly your close point) and you can leave mid to the bunker.
I’d like you to post a link to your build so maybe there’s something that can be modified for higher damage output. Last week I saw a lot of mesmers who had a good scaffold for a build but chose suboptimal runes and sigils for it.

Otherwise you have to practice and fight a lot of battles to gain a feeling for what you have to do. There are the basics but you have to experience various situations to become good.

Hope you get something out of my screed and never give up. Just because you die doesn’t mean you’re bad or something.

Thanks so much for the tips! They are really, really helpful. I wish I had Helseth’s reflexes…

I always try to focus thieves first – but the moment they get focused, they stealth and my target is dropped. Moreover, for some reason I find it very difficult to retarget thieves after they come out of stealth. “Target nearest target” works well when it’s a 1v1, but when there are more targets, I often target something random, and by the time I manage to retarget the thief I am already dead =(

As requested, this is my build for tpvp:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQJARWlknpWtlpxUNcrNCrxg6s26MSOQAlsirB-TZBFwAMOEAl2fYxTAoaZAAXAAA

Your build looks like the one I used to ran except for a few points:

- Halting Stike instead of Mental Torment ~ you can interrupt quite often with chaosstorm and illusionary wave and Halting Strike can crit up to 2k; so it’s perfect for thiefs or tankier classes
- Sigil of Energy and Sigil of Strength on both weapons ~ you crit a lot and that way you make sure that you always have 3-5 stacks of might and gain profit of the +7% damage of the rune set
- depending on the team compilation I often switched Nullfield for Decoy, that way you can produce an additional clone and get away easier

But otherwise I don’t see anything “useless” for a shatter build.

Regarding the reflexes of Helseth: it depends a lot on the pc you use and your internet connection. I for myself have a pretty crappy connection so I have milisecond lags – but that’s sometimes enough.

Take a look at the guide in my signature, more specifically the tPvP videos and kiting guides linked.
You’re not supposed to be on point as a mesmer, you’re supposed to go into team fights and put in pressure from range and burst down the squishy classes. I’m willing to meet you in game and give you an intro into what a mesmer does in (t)PvP.

Have a wonderful rest of the day mate!
Much love,

~Monns

Take a look at …someone’s…guide to solo queue strategy here: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Guide-A-Mesmer-Guide-to-Solo-Queue

It should give you a good idea of some builds you can use and the roles you need to play.

ahh now i seee

there are 2 different fays

it felt as if ur signature always changed and i kind of wondered