Guild Wars 2

So for anyone who’s been paying attention, I’ve been running Phantrupt in PvP pretty much exclusivly since last November. Sure there’s been some testing, and some kitten ing, and Killshot Mesmer will always hold a very special place in my heart, but through and through I’ve been tearing it up with Phantrupt as my main, trustworthy build all this time.

When the trait changes came down they all seemed finely tuned to the build, not to mention the interrupt playstyle (as we all saw). Phantrupt only got stronger, and the plebs (aka other classes) cried and cried. They also adapted, and with the threat of the new high damage, fast and furious meta, the game and its builds shifted to compensate. Phantrupt didn’t grow weaker, interrupts were no less deadly (though arguably Mesmer specific nerfs have taken a tole in various ways), but I started to get disenchanted with the results of the setup.

Anyway the point being that the other night I made the first bonified, genuine change in build since last November when I entered PvP as the main area of my play. I’m sure you’ll all know the build (what I was running) or something like it. This is zerker shatter, pure and simple, and the only real swap comes down to a move away from that interrupt lockdown component to a lockdown mind wrack component. When you boil it down, practical synergies aside, the big difference I see is in Power Block vs Mental Anguish.

Power Block will net you a ton of extra damage if you land your interrupts on top of its additional effects, but Mental Anguish is straight up, no nonsense, step on someones bhallz (if you do it right) damage. Even if the net total might be lower, the question I’m left asking is simply how much is enough?

Anyway here’s a fun vignette

and a full match vid.

And yes, my straight up shatter play is old and rusty.

I’ve run almost the exact same build since the balance patch, except I use an OH sword rather than a pistol simply because I like double swords. I find that power block better than mental anguish because the build doesn’t have a large amount of clone generation, and MW isn’t as big a part of your damage output as a DE build.

The biggest problem I have with the build right now is that I cannot fight PU mesmers. When faced with a good one we just trade bursts and defenses until we’re left with stealths, and I’m completely helpless to his further bursts. Them being in stealth doesn’t leave much to interrupt too. Maybe you can help me with this.

SPNKr.6208:

I’ve run almost the exact same build since the balance patch, except I use an OH sword rather than a pistol simply because I like double swords. I find that power block better than mental anguish because the build doesn’t have a large amount of clone generation, and MW isn’t as big a part of your damage output as a DE build.

The biggest problem I have with the build right now is that I cannot fight PU mesmers. When faced with a good one we just trade bursts and defenses until we’re left with stealths, and I’m completely helpless to his further bursts. Them being in stealth doesn’t leave much to interrupt too. Maybe you can help me with this.

Yeah sure.

No matter the build, Mesmer can be a tough matchup in the right hands. With PU in particular on a phantrupt build there’s a couple of things you can do to outplay them. Try to hold off on your own stealths as much as you can. Get your phantasms out on him and kite. Presumably you’re fighting over a point, so make sure your heads in the right place to begin with. You don’t necessarily need to kill the PU mes as, strictly speaking, that’s not going to win you the game. If you’re assaulting a point, simply decap the point out from under him and just keep it that way. If he’s assaulting yours, just don’t let him cap it until help arrives. You always have the option to rotate, and in a phantrupt build which is roaming DPS anyway, that’s something you should be apt to do.

Never the less, AI really shines when stealth is at play, and for us Mesmers it allows us to freely kite and LoS to our hearts content. Perhaps this is where iDuelist outperforms iSwordsman as he’s going to stand at range and gun, not to mention track targets even if they’re going into stealth. They also knock that aegis off of a PU mes the moment they show themselves allowing you to get the lockdown in with your daze/stuns. Think of the approach as passive pressure to counteract the passivity of play that PU allows. You don’t even need to kill the guy. Merely driving him off is a victory given this is conquest. That or wasting his, and his teams time in a fruitless effort. Decapping a point vs a heavy stealth user is so easy it should almost be a crime :p

SPNKr.6208:

The biggest problem I have with the build right now is that I cannot fight PU mesmers. When faced with a good one we just trade bursts and defenses until we’re left with stealths, and I’m completely helpless to his further bursts. Them being in stealth doesn’t leave much to interrupt too. Maybe you can help me with this.

Same experience as a stealthless power-lockdown for me, I decided that to counter stealth, all you can do is bring more stealth.. so I’m having fun while playing uphill battles against them ^^
(Tho I have traited signets for having longer fun fighting them. I can kill below-average mesmers, but that’s because CI + Power Block, one good interrupt can screw them..)

Thanks for the advice, I suppose I need to get used to predicting when the PU burst is about to come too, since they go into stealth for so long.. Glad to see I’m not the only one with this problem though, those PU mesmers are indeed the most annoying things around.

On topic, I love this build The double mantras make it quite clunky at times but the sustain is fantastic and it always feels good to stop stomps, resses and heals and do damage on top. One thing I’d add though, that because of the lack of stealth and the long cast time of the heal, during which we can only run around, the build doesn’t do too well if focused by a lot of people in a group fight. So positioning is important.

SPNKr.6208:

Thanks for the advice, I suppose I need to get used to predicting when the PU burst is about to come too, since they go into stealth for so long.. Glad to see I’m not the only one with this problem though, those PU mesmers are indeed the most annoying things around.

On topic, I love this build The double mantras make it quite clunky at times but the sustain is fantastic and it always feels good to stop stomps, resses and heals and do damage on top. One thing I’d add though, that because of the lack of stealth and the long cast time of the heal, during which we can only run around, the build doesn’t do too well if focused by a lot of people in a group fight. So positioning is important.

I just realized id linked the wrong build -_-u

Sorted it out. Phantrupt still solid!

Well, you could probably do the math and figure out which will end up netting you more damage.

A 30% modifier is nothing to be sniffed at but then powerblock can be a straight up chunk of damage dealt with a shatter straight after. I think it ultimately comes down to how often you can interrupt, if you can do it reliably they powerblock, if not then mental anguish will make up some ground.

Lots of choices, all good in different ways, such a good job the team Robert Gee is on is doing.

P.S. This being my tablet (iHate you apple safari) I can’t see the builds so will check them later, just going off memory.

To me, and I don’t know if this is common or not, PB is a great trait on its own, and synergies disgustingly well with CI – but it offers something different from MA, which is that PB is practically made for low-cooldown, spamming builds (like eles) to give you a breathing window, while MA is just to destroy the enemy in a single moment. In PvP, I think that PB shines brighter, because of the amount of bunkers and mitigation boons so readily available.

For WvW, however, I’d go with MA because it is so very easy to pick and choose your duels/fights and instagibbing someone has more value than a prolonged fight. except against eles. I push them off cliffs.

Mental Anguish and Power Block are two very different traits that serve two different playstyles. MA is a straight damage trait meant for raw DPS shatter builds, while Power Block offers insane CC. The damage is just a bonus, the 15 second cooldowns are what you get out of it. Interrupt a heal, and they’re done.

Stormbolt.7293:

Interrupt a heal, and they’re done.

Shelter, Healing Signet, Withdraw, Signet of Restoration, Healing Turret. You can rupt reliably only Necro and Ranger. And other mesmers if they’re healing not in stealth.
I’m not saying that PB is worse, I love it, using it more than MA, but to say it’s for rupting healing is a bit too idealistic.

Bubi.5237:

Stormbolt.7293:

Interrupt a heal, and they’re done.

Shelter, Healing Signet, Withdraw, Signet of Restoration, Healing Turret. You can rupt reliably only Necro and Ranger. And other mesmers if they’re healing not in stealth.
I’m not saying that PB is worse, I love it, using it more than MA, but to say it’s for rupting healing is a bit too idealistic.

Yeah my thought exactly. I use Power Block for its Halting Strike damage (in conjunction with some sort of burst usualy, such as a phantasm unload), and the Power Block CD on the rupted skill is more the bonus.

Ross Biddle.2367:

Yeah my thought exactly. I use Power Block for its Halting Strike damage (in conjunction with some sort of burst usualy, such as a phantasm unload), and the Power Block CD on the rupted skill is more the bonus.

Oooopss, forgot to say that I’m using Halting Strike renamed to PB and not PB… ^^ Although the Weakness should be nice, to rupt a thief is too random for me

You engage a fight with Mass-Invis… break stealth after ~2 Seconds, waste blink and decoy in revealed after ~5 Seconds…. use F3 instead of F1 to blind-stomp the Necro.All this in the first Minute of the fight. ^^ I stoped after this =/. I agree u you are rusty =)

Belze Intilie.8436:

You engage a fight with Mass-Invis… break stealth after ~2 Seconds, waste blink and decoy in revealed after ~5 Seconds…. use F3 instead of F1 to blind-stomp the Necro.All this in the first Minute of the fight. ^^ I stoped after this =/. I agree u you are rusty =)

Rofl

Ross Biddle.2367:

Belze Intilie.8436:

You engage a fight with Mass-Invis… break stealth after ~2 Seconds, waste blink and decoy in revealed after ~5 Seconds…. use F3 instead of F1 to blind-stomp the Necro.All this in the first Minute of the fight. ^^ I stoped after this =/. I agree u you are rusty =)

Rofl

I thought later to say…

While I was laughing at your candor I also thought your assessment itself was kind of funny. So now that I’m not running off to work I thought it was worth pointing a few things out.

I don’t generally use my Mass Invis. I’ve always been terribly, terribly frugal when it comes to my elites. I survive really well without them, and almost never use them for an engage. That said, in this instance my intention was to engage the free casting ranger without his noticing, avoiding the chance of a dodge or sig of stone, assuring his elimination from the fight. Good that I did too because assuring that stomp rallied my two downed teammates, keeping the fight a 3v2, instead of a 1v3 with only the shatter mesmer in play XD.

Why the blink though? Given the above the distance I had to cover was to great especially considering the elevated position of the ranger. Despite your assessment, it was closer to 4.5 seconds of stealth. Without the teleport on top of the ranger, I was running out of time. Again, good thing that I did because my teammates were close to an eternal dirt nap :)

Burning the stealth in revealed is legit, I’ve not rotated skills with torch for a long time, and my previous builds play used its stealth for mantra recharges and phant summons, so getting used to revealed from stealth bursts is all part of the rust removal.

As for the f3 blind, eh, apples and oranges.

The good news is a couple of matches on and things are going much, much better overall. :D

I also would like to add that breaking stealth on purpose is not a crime. It all depends on how the fight is evolving and it can be part of a manouvre or a tactic.

However, using decoy or torch with the reveal on is clearly a sign of rust
But it can happen if you are not used to stealth too much, like all memsers seem to do nowadays, at least in my experience.

Found out that MA makes more Damage that PB overall.
The +CD on Powerblock is nice, those interrupts with damage on chaosstorm are funny too, but the burst of MA in combination with these blocks is more effective in teamfights, in my opinion.
Interesting would be the math about this..

The problem against PU is, that these guys outstealth you. If they use GS and you not (Sword MH and OH and Staff for me) then it can be really hard if they know what they do. Outrange and outstealth. In WvW I would just swap to GS and to PB, since a burst even without MA can easily burst a full glass mesmer Down.