Mantras Worth It?
Only useful in PVP so far from what i can tell. Other than that i never use it for PVE. Situations where you need that stun for an interrupt or burst damage 2x damage hit
I use the heal/condition removal in PvE, spec for 3x mantras… its nice and I add MoP for WvW for a spike… my only dislike is that you need to chant for what seem like an eternity when things are going down and you need one of the skills. At least during chant you can use shatters and other mantras (e.g. casting mantra of recovery I use mantra of resolve to remove a condition, chant keeps casting unbroken).
I’ve used mantras almost exclusively and there are very good situations in which to utilize them. The joy of mantras is that they can be cast in the middle of anything else. Dodge roll, cast a mantra, moa morph, use daze to make sure your target doesn’t move. Dazed, use the stun break to get out of it…the list goes on.
The joy of mantras is that they can be cast in the middle of anything else.
This. I find them to very worthwhile, especially the daze. If you played as a Mesmer in GW1, you can understand why an instant interrupt is incredibly useful, and very rare in GW2.
I use the heal/condition removal in PvE, spec for 3x mantras…
I use this setup for PvE and PvP (WvW and sPvP) and it’s great. Being able to pop these any time is great. And once you spec for 3 mantra charges, the heal is actually higher I think (1 charge is about half what the normal heal ability does I think).
My only wish is that I could recharge my matras without having to expend all the charges first.
Doesnt dodging interrupt your mantra cast?
Dodging only interrupts when you’re charging the mantra. After it’s charged you can use the actual ability of the mantra instantly while doing anything else.
Mantra’s are nice to use but they don’t really feel usable in an extended fight as once you’ve used them 3 sec channeling for each, assuming your specc’ing into it and slotting all mantras, thats about 12 seconds of channeling for all your utilities and heal to be back to being usable.
20 Points in Inspiration, and the Mantra of Recovery is nice with Restorative Mantras and Mender’s Purity.
So what does that mean exactly?
Charging Mantra of Recovery = You and nearby allies heal for just a little less then the Power Return, and you are cleared of a condition.
Using Mantra of Recovery (twice) = You are healed for the stated amount, and cleared of a condition.
Combine that with any Rune set that references the use of a “Heal Skill”, and you can get that benefit repeatedly as well. Say Superior Rune of the Centaur, which gives you and nearby allies Haste for 10 seconds for using a Heal Skill (CD 10 seconds supposedly) or Superior Rune of Dwanya for 5 seconds of Regeneration (CD 10 seconds). That Haste will proc on either the Charging or the Usage parts of Mantra of Recovery.
I would stick with this myself, if not for a few details.
1) Bad Dodge/Interrupt timing can leave a Mantra with the Full CD, instead of the partial CD without effect. Which is painful when its your heal.
2) 4 second charge times in combat is quite a LONG time. >.> 2 second underwater charge times aren’t bad, though.
- (Death, Terry Pratchett, Hogfather)
If you spec into them- Hell yes.
@Reavan
Can you provide details on what it you’re doing to make them viable? I put some traits into it and practiced a bit on the target dummies and a little bit in PvE, but it felt a bit lackluster. It’s possible the play style doesn’t fit me which is why I had problems, but the mantra system seems to be pretty interesting if I can just nail down what exactly to do.
I don’t use them.
feedback and null field are too useful in pve i find.
I forget what i use as a third though, maybe the signet to buff illusions.
In wvw, and sometimes pve they seem useful. In spvp they can be a bit annoying.
Maguuma
Underwater Mantras charge faster. (Healing Mantras sound is bugged, but meh)
And so much faster that I’m replaced my default attack (Ctrl + Left mouse) to mantra of pain. The DPS is about comparable to default attack of trident.
But the tricks are:
- faster burst (precharge)
- can do quick spells which resolving (resolving mantras can be done anytime)
- auto-ally-heal with the trait
Charge time seems like an eternity, particularly for a fast-paced game. Too much like preparations in GW1. Waiting around for a burst effect to be ready is kind of a wash. Though, as it is traited with 1h sword, I’d suspect it is meant to provide sin-like ‘gun-n-run’ tactic—once spent, get out of the way for another mantra casting session.
Duelist build using slow cast mantras not quite on par with a duelist archetype play-style, but there seems to be a few work-arounds.
As of lately, the only mantra worth your attention is Mantra of Distraction. Otherwise, don’t bother until ANet revamps them.
Still, even including the recast time something like Mantra of Recovery has fairly high healing-per-second.
It’s annoying having to stand there so long, but the actual total-time vs total-usage is quite ok. It’s basically just very frontloaded.
^
Well, you don’t have to stand there. If you have 3 illusions out, it’s not problem and if not you can just run while casting.
It’s not just “better” with heal/time (esp with mantra heal trait), but also with condition removal, if you traited it.
I find Mantra of Distraction is fantastic in PvE, even without speccing in to any Mantra traits. The power of an instant daze that can be cast at ANY time, regardless of your current animation state cannot be overstated. For Dungeons I typically run Mantra of Distraction, Feedback, and Null Field, along with Greatsword and Sword/Pistol. With the Diversion shatter, this gives me 5 potential interrupts, without having to sacrifice a lot of hitting power. That said, I think the only way the other Mantras are worth it is if you are running a Restorative Mantras build. And even then, all you really need is Mantra of Pain to get the full benefit of that trait.
I started trying out Mantra of Recovery because I got frustrated getting my heals interrupted when I really needed it. Of course the healing part is great. OTOH the charging part is a bit annoying and seems like more micromanagement.
I have yet to try Mirror. Reflection is great for what I want—not get interrupted when I need that heal—but proportionally it doesn’t seem to heal as much as Ether Feast.