Guild Wars 2

As a Guardian, I wish I liked sword, but I don’t. As a Mesmer, I love sword, but had trouble dealing with the squishiness of the class. So this is a build I came up with wanting to use Sword primarily and stay in the fight, rather than going ranged. Key goals are survivability and mobility, while still doing respectable damage. I don’t normally run Deceptive Evasion, so phantasms are the main illusions in the fight most of the time. This isn’t a min/max build to be sure; its purpose is to have a fun play style with the class.

Weapons are normally Sword/Sword and Sword/x, although if I know it’s really a ranged fight I’ll break down and use Sword/Pistol and Greatsword.

Armor is all Berserker with Traveler Runes for PvE. I’m still working on the WvW suit, so I’m not sure where the sweet spot is yet (adding some Knights and Valkyrie in), but the Traveler Runes are there to stay.

Build link:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vgAQRAsc8dnsISlaWoGmpB3aIJMfo3nUE9lj+A2Lpg34G-zgCBYfCiYLJjIAkKIQZmFRjtMsIasqFYqSLqW5CwbgRrOAACAzMQKgIGDA-e

The core build is 0/15/15/15/15 with 10 points left for personal preference. I usually run 0/20/15/20/15, as shown in the build link.

Domination 0
Dueling 15 10 (IV Blade Training) – I like Swords. If taking 20 points in dueling I’ll also take II or IX
Chaos 15 10 (IV Illusionary Defense)
Inspiration 10 (V Persisting Images or II Glamour mastery if you prefer that)
Illusions 10 (III Compounding Power)

You have 10 trait points left, which you could get two 20 point traits or a single 25 point trait. You could also get the 10 point Illusion damage buff in Domination. If Phantasmal Haste (Illusions X) worked properly, I would probably put 5 points there to take that… but last I heard it’s still broken for most of our phantasms. Come to think of it… seems like half our phantasms are broken…so don’t send them to do a job you can do yourself. :-)?

Utility skills:
For healing I usually use the Signet of the Ether as I expect to have illusions up most of the time. This will give passive healing from both the Signet and the Phantasmal Healing trait. Between that and the iDefender, survivability goes way up. I don’t use the Signet active unless things are really bad, since the passive heals you would lose during cool down are much more than the active heals for. If conditions are likely to be a major issue, I’ll take Mender’s Purity instead and use the healing Mantra.

For WvW I’ll probably switch to Mirror or Ether Feast, but I haven’t run this in WvW yet, as I’m still collecting armor.

Normally I’ll have iDefender as one slot skill, with either iDisenchanter or the cleansing Mantra for handling conditions. The last one is personal preference/need depending on the situation. I usually take Mass Invis for the Elite skill, because I only think to use my Elite when things are going very poorly.

Any comments/suggestions are welcome.

This isn’t a new concept, I ran this before , I ran this concept after the class rebuff, when we got ether signets. the way I ran it was usually sword sword pistol sceptre, i would go 20 in illusions for the phant haste, go 20 in dueling for the DE, which would leave me with 15 in chaos and 15 in inspiration, I would run Disenchanter with decoy and blink, or in duels or roaming, use decoy disenchanter and Phant Defender.

Pros: Signet of ether paired with Duelist + swordman + Disenchanter + Defender , Riposte (clone on block) Sceptre (clone on block) 2 blocks , DE ( 2 extra clones on dodge) + Decoy.

i gave this build the Football Team, when I would duel people in spvp or duels and just bring this build for troll, because you can almost always never run out of clones or phantasms if done right.

The constant cycle of clones and phantasms will wear down your opponent. It does have one drawback. You will lose without the phantasms, and giving up the 25 in insp , the 10 in domination, will reduce your phantasm damage by a lot, on top of that you are forced to run berserker to make up for the damage, and thus you will be squishy alone. so a 1vx against dps classes , you are likely to die faster.

In theory in 1v1 you can beat a lot of classes, but you will lack the direct burst to down someone fast enough. In fact this is the dps equivalent of a PU condi mesmer. Its only downside is you have to go all out zerk.

there are variations i have tried out, but I will let you decide the outcome for yourself.

Plus the 5 and 15 in Chaos synergize with the signet of ether and witht he 15 in insp. the 15 in illusions is a big plus!

good in theory but it does have some fatal flaws when you get to see them in fights.

Also run illusionary defense in chaos. In duels this build with be fun and kind of an overkill with illusions, i do warn you, it has some serious drawbacks in roaming, maybe i havent experimented enough.