Guild Wars 2

Hi,

Can someone explain to me how mesmer shield works?

Someone once told me that if it blocks an attack some cooldowns get reset.

What should I know about shield, and how can I fight against it?

Shield 4

Blocking Stance for two seconds summoning a Phantasm at the end of the stance. If at least one attack is bloced you gain access to a secondary 4 skill called deja vu which does….Blocking Stance for two seconds summoning a Phantasm at the end of the stance. The secondary block is only available for activation for 10 seconds. If you don’t use it the 4 skill flips to the cool down of the first activation. The phantasm that is summoned grants alacrity to the team and slow to enemies.

Shield 5
Throw a “wall” that stuns enemies it passes through while granting quickness to allies it passes through. When cast the wall goes out to 600 range and then doubles back, blocking projectiles during its travel. If you catch the wall on its way back the 5 skill cool down is reduced by 10 seconds.

How to fight it?
Against shield 4 you would need to use unblockable skills or interrupt the skill to prevent deja vu from occurring. If you can’t do that it may be better to not attack at all since all it takes is one blocked attack to trigger the secondary skill.

Shield 5 is a bit easier. Just make sure you aren’t in the path of the wall and watch the mesmer’s positioning in case they try to catch you on the wall’s return. If you can cc the mesmer out of the return range the 5 skill will go on its full cooldown.

If they block the spell that blocks turns into a copy of that spell essentially letting them cast it twice

That’s all it really does outside of spawning a phantasm the other spell dazes when it passes through you

Okay…

So shield 4 can basically reset itself?
If deja vu blocks an attack, will it create another deja vu?

Nope, deja vu only occurs once. So a mesmer can only use the block skill twice in a row until he can recharge his original 5 skill.

mrauls.6519:

So shield 4 can basically reset itself?
If deja vu blocks an attack, will it create another deja vu?

It’s a second cast of the same effect, but no more. That’s why they called the second cast Deja Vu, instead of just making it a repeat of the same cast: Echoes of Memory can proc Deja Vu, but Deja Vu cannot proc Deja Vu.

@Owlite: Tides of Time (shield 5) is a stun, not a daze.

Other notes about Tides of Time:

• It gives 1.5s of quickness to allies it passes through, so 2 passthroughs gives 3s of quickness (it’s not generally feasible to catch it twice yourself, so you’ll usually only get 1.5s of that quickness). This duration can obviously be increased with boon duration stats.
• It has no target limit. So you can hit an entire raid with the quickness, or a huge chunk of a WvW zerg with the stun.
• Catching the same wall twice (for example, blinking in front of it before it hits max range) does not reduce the cooldown twice. It would give you quickness twice, though.
• Catching two different walls (from yourself only) does reduce the cooldown twice. The only way to do this is to use f5 to throw out one wall, shift back, throw out the second wall, catch the first wall, catch the second wall. It’s tricky, and fun, but ultimately may be more trouble than it’s worth.

The first shield skill (weapon skill 4) gives a 2.5 second cast that blocks all attacks during. At the end of the cast, a phantasm will be summoned which slows enemies it hits and gives alacrity (opposite of chill) to allies around it. If any attack is blocked during this cast, the mesmer will be able to cast the same skill again, but any additional blocks will not allow a third cast. 24 second CD.

The second skill (weapon skill 5) is a moving wall from the mesmer that stuns enemies it hits for 1 second and gives quickness for 2 seconds (or is it 1 second?). After a couple seconds, the wall will turn around (unless it hits a wall in which case it will try to bounce back earlier but sometimes dissipates) back toward the mesmer. If the mesmer hits the returning wall, the CD of the ability is reduced by 10 seconds. 35 second CD? Somewhere around there.

Skill 4 appears similar to Chaos Armor, but thicker and with two clock hands pointing out from the mesmer. A mesmer may try to use this in anticipation of a burst or during a burst. When you see it, try to stop attacking ASAP. ANY block will allow for a second cast. The best counter is to stop attacking, but unblockable attacks are also work. You being a Dragonhunter, longbow skill 3 I’ve heard is unblockable. You could cast it within range 300 and interrupt the blocking cast. Mesmers have few options for stability.

Skill 5 is used main for control but can also be used to offer quickness to allies for faster stomps or extreme burst. A mesmer may use this just before a burst to keep a target still. Then possibly use the immobilize from sword skill 3 so you can’t evade the returning wall. Have either condi cleanse, stability or some other defence handy because a lot of burst can be dealt in those 3-4 seconds of lockdown.

These are only a few ways these skills are used. Since I’m not a top tier player, I can’t speak for how those players use these skills. To be honest, I’d also like to see how these skills are used and how they’re countered.

Thanks everyone! This has been very informative.

Alpha gave a lot of good info about Tides of Time, but I just thought I’d mention that it blocks projectiles. (Blocks, not reflects.) Pretty useful to remember, especially when fighting Bramblebacks. Or when you’re a Ranger fighting a Chronomancer, for that matter.