Guild Wars 2

Alright well I’ve been playing mesmer for quite a while. I’ve been reading the forums for a little while, and decided it is time to post something and contribute to this community So here it is: my best job at a fair analysis of our elite skill options.

Mesmers have the benefit of three really great elites, but each has an appropriate time to use it, and some times where they are just worth kitten. Our three skills are moa morph, mass invisibility, and time warp.

Moa Morph: Turn your target into a moa bird (or a tuna fish if underwater).
Pros: -this attack is really cool (you turn them into a bird!)
-great at substantially mitigating both your incoming damage and improve your opportunity for outgoing damage because they can’t escape with utilities/their normal skills
-awesome for conditions, which moas really can’t remove
-superb skill for 1v1 situations in which you can turn them into a moa and spike them down without getting hit hardly at all
-also awesome in 1v2, where you can use this to bring it down to more like 1v1.5 for a while and give you an upper edge
Cons: -the cooldown is quite long
-really loses its utility if fighting against many opponents (ex: wvw zergs) where taking one person out of the fight for moa morph’s duration doesn’t make a noticeable difference
Summary: Use this skill if you are anticipating [not very many]v[not very many] where this skill can effectively reduce your enemy’s numbers by ~1 for the duration. Typically this means solo wvw roaming or spvp (possibly tpvp depending on your role within the team).

Mass Invisibility: Give yourself and all allies in a moderate aoe stealth for 5 secs.
Pros: -can be traited to give 6 secs and provide you with a boon every second you remain in stealth
-drops targets on you/your allies
-great for ambushing (try combining with portal or blink for a little blitz attack) or escaping
-very confusing to human foes
-your clones/phantasms continue to do their thing (and you can make more while in stealth without unstealthing)
-great opportunity to heal/use other skills you really can’t afford to get interrupted
-shortest elite cooldown for mesmer
Cons: -does not improve outgoing damage in any way
-can be difficult to coordinate with allies
-you can still take damage in stealth
-bouncing attacks (eg staff auto WoC) will take you out of stealth if they bounce to an enemy after you stealth
-theif’s shadow refuge performs this skill’s function much better if you are out of combat, using stealth to enter combat/ambush (in combat their aoe target that comes with shadow refuge makes this attack better imo)
-stealth causes loss of agro in pve
Summary: This move can be used very effectively by clever/experience players to dominate human foes in pvp engagements (either pvp or wvw). In pve, this attack tends to be less useful, as CPU is not confused by you appearing out of nowhere/disappearing in mid combat/doesn’t get you and your illusions mixed up. It’s pretty much indispensable to PU builds. Takes practice but is very versatile and useful.

Time Warp: Make a large aoe bubble in which you and your allies gain quickness (do everything 50% faster) for its 10sec duration.
Pros: -your allies will love you for making them do everything fast
-awesome in many vs many fights for making all of your team faster (can heal 1.5x as fast and dish out damage 1.5x as fast, this makes a huge difference)
-it is the longest quickness on a single skill in the game (check this, but i believe it is)
-great for tubo rezzing allies/turbo dunking enemies in pvp/wvw
-great for everything in pve
-gains effctiveness as a skill multiplicatively the more allies you have with you.
-provides a 10s large aoe ethereal field (lots of confusion if you have allies with fast attacking projectiles ahem rangers/thieves ahem)
Cons: -longest cooldown of all mesmer elites
-the difference it makes in a battle of 1vanything (ie anytime you are solo) is only ok considering the cd on the skill
-requires good communication with the team (although not to the extent of mass invis)
Summary: This is a great skill for absolutely any situation in which you are running with allies and is still ok if you are solo (but depending on your build/playstyle another one of the elites may be more appropriate). It’s most effective use is on wvw zergs, 4-5v4-5 pvp battles (especially on a node where you can drop it and have your team just camp there and kitten them), and also amazing at any pve boss fight (think temples/dungeons).

That’s my breakdown of you skills. If you have anything to add, please do. Let me know what you think!

First off, you’re wrong in many regards as to the usefulness of these skills. I will agree with a lot of your points, but there are a lot of discrepancies and mistakes.

Example:
Moa is actually not a very useful Elite in most cases now. Not only can the enemy escape it super easily, but they can also dodge/block it.

To prevent an enemy from being able to avoid the Moa, you can cast it underwater to have the reduced cast time. If they are on land, they will still turn into a Moa. (If you’re on land and cast on someone in the water, they will turn into a Tuna.) Casting underwater also gives you the reduced after-cast delay, allowing superb plays to happen using water. The downside is that your elite will now be on cooldown for 180 seconds instead of the normal 90 seconds for a typical PvP Elite (Mass Invis).

Your information on Mass Invisibility is also wrong.

Mass Invisibility does not drop aggro on mobs in PvE since the invis change a few months back. It does stop them from being able to attack you since they can’t see you, but you’re still in combat with them. You still have just as much “presence” as before (equivalent to aggro). You’re just not able to be targeted or seen.

Also, stating that Mass Invisibility does not improve outgoing damage is a superb oversight. Using Mass Invisibility lets you setup your skills/positions. You can easily get a free Phantasm and 1-2 clones out during Mass Invisibility without removing stealth. This basically means you’re setting yourself up for a nice combo.

Also, all previous illusions will typically get stealthed with you, allowing you to utilize them to deal damage without getting attacked by targeted spells.

Add for mass invis.

Very good for stealth Stomp or Stealth Ress. Saved my P members a lot with this Mass Invis if they’re downed.