Guild Wars 2

Why does it seem every class has a speed buff skill either by signet, weapon type, etc. except the poor Mesmer? Can we get one? Would help when just trying to explore.

Focus 4. It’s actually pretty nice, but it’s all we have.

I don’t use focus (instead, gs+sword/pistol) and I feel like a snail.

ProAlex.4723:

I don’t use focus (instead, gs+sword/pistol) and I feel like a snail.

Focus is just as powerful as the pistol.

iWarden deals just as much damage to a target as the iDueliest, you just have to know how to place it correctly. I’ve noticed the iWarden actually criticals more than the iDueliest but, that could just be my iWarden.

Other suggestions:
1: Carry a focus, swap it in for the speed buff while out of combat, change to the pistol before getting into combat.
2: Learn how to use the Temporial Curtain skill to your advantage along, with the iWarden. Hint: Temporial Curtain can be very useful for zergs.
3: Get swiftness through runes.

nice, thanks. i’ll have to play with the focus. might actually be pretty useful, since you can cast it ahead of yourself.

I know it has a kind of long CD, but blink can be used for movement all the time. The Centaur rune grants swiftness when you heal, for 10 seconds, so pop that in and use mirror, which is on a 15 second CD, and you have 66% swiftness uptime without the focus, if you really hate it.

I don’t think that having that extra swiftness is really so amazing. I mean, as a thief, you have to give up a utility slot for the extra movement… and thieves have some awesome utilities. Sometimes I’m down about it, but I remind myself that these other classes really are giving something up to have that swiftness. They don’t just get it for free as a lot of people whine about.

The Mesmer should not have a lot of speed buffs. It’s an important downside/opposite to having clones and stealth.

When traveling I use these three skills:
Focus – Temporal Curtain (13s swiftness)
Staff – Chaos Storm (this has a chance to give you 4s swiftness)
Staff – Phrase Retreat (as you’re auto running, press your “turn 180” key, use Phrase Retreat right after, and turn your mouse manually back 180 again as your teleporting. Easy to do after a bit of practice, it sounds more complicated then it is)
Remember to always stow your weapon immediately after using each skill.

You can also use Blink if you have it equipped, but if you’re only using it to travel, you’re wasting a utility skill.

lol

just slot out Centaur and have perma speed.

that simple..

Come on guys.. Wake up

Centaur runes. Don’t WvW without it.

10s swiftness + 20% swiftness duration + 15s cd heal = profit

Don’t forget to get a level 60 karma breather from cursed shore vendor and put a 7th centaur rune in it to have swiftness on heal underwater as well!

I strongly considered using divinity runes but unless you are always in the company of someone with swiftness, it’s not worth it imho

Use runes for swiftness? That sounds like a really bad idea to me. Rune of the Nightmare gives you 183 condition damage and 10% condition duration, that’s quite a chunk of damage you’re giving up just for some swiftness.

Centaur also give 165 power and 15% bleed duration in addition to 20% swiftness duration and swiftness on heal. rather have 165 power and bleed duration over condi damage in WvW

Centaur also give 165 power and 15% bleed duration in addition to 20% swiftness duration and swiftness on heal. rather have 165 power and bleed duration over condi damage in WvW

I hope you don’t mean in a condition damage build, because 165 power won’t help you a lot there. Power, bleed, and swiftness duration is just a bad combination really. If you really want swiftness that badly, you can get it much more efficiently from Rune of Speed, that also has vitality on top for extra survival. Getting a mixture of power, bleed, and swiftness is just too unfocused.

Rune of speed doesn’t help when running around solo and not getting hit. And no it’s not for a Condi build if I’m going Power.

I do have the bleed trait on illusion crit which does happen a lot and +15% duration on that is helpful but don’t care much about it (more than I would on swiftness while I get hit). Point was it does give stats and no-one ever mentioned build specifically, but running Condi damage in WvW isn’t going to be as good as Power for Phantasm damage on siege.

Edit: Actually getting hit for swiftness is counter-productive since while exploring especially, combat speed is horrible.

For wvwvw, Rune of the Centaur, period

Mesmers are a very potent class as it is, a couple of more condition damage from another rune bonus is overkill, but having swiftness on heal cast and freeing up focus for pistol or sword is just a much better trade.

Blink with the trait Far Manipulation ( in dueling tree) boosts the skill’s initial range to 1200, use it along with focus occasionally and you should’nt have too harsh of a time moving around.

Pay.8713:

Rune of speed doesn’t help when running around solo and not getting hit. And no it’s not for a Condi build if I’m going Power.

I do have the bleed trait on illusion crit which does happen a lot and +15% duration on that is helpful but don’t care much about it (more than I would on swiftness while I get hit). Point was it does give stats and no-one ever mentioned build specifically, but running Condi damage in WvW isn’t going to be as good as Power for Phantasm damage on siege.

Edit: Actually getting hit for swiftness is counter-productive since while exploring especially, combat speed is horrible.

It’s silly to use runes as a means to travel around faster. If you are going to use swiftness on runes, it should be for combat reasons. Runes are a big part of a build, and you are kittening yourself if you don’t use the right runes for your build, or waste them on a swiftness buff. And not only that, but you are also wasting your healing skill, so you won’t be able to instantly defend yourself if you get ambushed. A focus can be switched in 1 second, if you hold your inventory open, and it doesn’t waste your healing skill or your rune set up.

Except that it gives a 10 second buff and then you need to wait 15 seconds for it to recharge.

No, centaur rocks for everything. You also never need to heal at the start of a fight so the heal has plenty of time to recharge. If I would like to use other runes? Certainly, but I also like to reach where I want in a fast manner and 15 second gaps in swiftness is terrible.

Statistically speaking unless you lose the fight by 2% HP that extra condition damage that would have won the fight does not really enter the equation.

People are still saying that using up all our runes for something which all other classes can get much easier is acceptable?

Apples, oranges. Read the kitten thread instead of interjecting randomly.

Pay.8713:

I do have the bleed trait on illusion crit which does happen a lot and +15% duration on that is helpful but don’t care much about it (more than I would on swiftness while I get hit). Point was it does give stats and no-one ever mentioned build specifically, but running Condi damage in WvW isn’t going to be as good as Power for Phantasm damage on siege.

I hope you know that +bleed duration won’t help mesmers unless they are lucky with staff hits or have bleed runes in their weapons. SI bleed is caused by illusions, not you, and illusions don’t copy +condi duration.

Kanto.1659:

Except that it gives a 10 second buff and then you need to wait 15 seconds for it to recharge.

No, centaur rocks for everything. You also never need to heal at the start of a fight so the heal has plenty of time to recharge. If I would like to use other runes? Certainly, but I also like to reach where I want in a fast manner and 15 second gaps in swiftness is terrible.

Statistically speaking unless you lose the fight by 2% HP that extra condition damage that would have won the fight does not really enter the equation.

The staff can also give you 4 seconds swiftness, and you can use teleportation from the staff, or utility, to move forward faster as well.

Unless you are just running from door to door in Worlds PvP, or standing safely behind a wall casting skills, you do need to have your heal ready. It is very possible to turn a corner and run into a group of players. And since you are wearing light armor, it only takes an immobilize skill, or some quickness, to get your health very low fast.

I can get almost 300 more condition damage from runes. That’s equal to a full trait line, or about half the condition stats from an amulet. Runes make a big difference.

Kasama.8941:

Kanto.1659:

Except that it gives a 10 second buff and then you need to wait 15 seconds for it to recharge.

No, centaur rocks for everything. You also never need to heal at the start of a fight so the heal has plenty of time to recharge. If I would like to use other runes? Certainly, but I also like to reach where I want in a fast manner and 15 second gaps in swiftness is terrible.

Statistically speaking unless you lose the fight by 2% HP that extra condition damage that would have won the fight does not really enter the equation.

The staff can also give you 4 seconds swiftness, and you can use teleportation from the staff, or utility, to move forward faster as well.

Unless you are just running from door to door in Worlds PvP, or standing safely behind a wall casting skills, you do need to have your heal ready. It is very possible to turn a corner and run into a group of players. And since you are wearing light armor, it only takes an immobilize skill, or some quickness, to get your health very low fast.

I can get almost 300 more condition damage from runes. That’s equal to a full trait line, or about half the condition stats from an amulet. Runes make a big difference.

well if you think the teleportation from the staff is a reliable way to go faster, whatever floats your boat

the point of these runes is that they free up a space for more utility/weapon skills avoiding limiting your choice of decent tools.

besides, i m sceptical about the passive bonus signet of most of the other classes granting only 10% spd bonus as opposed to 33% spd bonus AOE.

to take you example:
if i m immobilized, i still got blink/tp from staff/decoy/duelist X to get away if my heal is on CD.

if i had a passive spd bonus slotted on utility i would have to discard either decoy/blink/feedback. That d be a hefty price IMHO.

or perhaps ditch the staff to get the focus instead which would reduce my survivability.

it is obviously a matter of preference but I do not believe that opting for runes of the centaur instead of a more offensive set of runes is really kittening you.

Seems people are falling into 2 camps on this Pro Centaur and Anti Centaur.

I have to say the runes of Centaur rock! High mobility is so important in pvp, especially in 1 v X fights.

I have two specs I primarily play which have vastly different runes: One focusing on condition duration to get 87% increased condition duration. And the other on permanent run speed during and out of combat with centaur runes.

Mesmers main weakness is their mobility, you counter that and your upping your game immediately! IMHO!

Ceelaniri.8410:

well if you think the teleportation from the staff is a reliable way to go faster, whatever floats your boat

the point of these runes is that they free up a space for more utility/weapon skills avoiding limiting your choice of decent tools. Look at my post further up for my rotation.

besides, i m sceptical about the passive bonus signet of most of the other classes granting only 10% spd bonus as opposed to 33% spd bonus AOE.

to take you example:
if i m immobilized, i still got blink/tp from staff/decoy/duelist X to get away if my heal is on CD.

if i had a passive spd bonus slotted on utility i would have to discard either decoy/blink/feedback. That d be a hefty price IMHO.

or perhaps ditch the staff to get the focus instead which would reduce my survivability.

it is obviously a matter of preference but I do not believe that opting for runes of the centaur instead of a more offensive set of runes is really kittening you.

It is very reliable, of curse not on its own though. I use it while the focus swiftness is on cooldown.

As mentioned above, all it takes is a double click on a weapon in order to switch it out, which shouldn’t take you more then 1 second if you keep your inventory open while traveling. So you don’t loose anything using a focus, other then one inventory space. Using Blink only for travel is a bad idea, yes. However, if you are already using it for combat purposes, you might as well use it for traveling as well, as long as you don’t spam it when you get close to enemy territory. I’d rather use a utility skill for travel, then a healing skill, since I have two more utility skill I can use.

Swiftness is really overrated. When playing my Ranger, I can use the 10% movement speed signet, plus the leap skill (Swoop) on the greatsword, and be able to keep up with an Engineer having constant swiftness. If I use swiftness on top of that, I can easily overtake the Engineer. 33% is really not that much.

Signets come with an active skill, and you also have two more utility slots, so you aren’t really losing that much, if anything.

Our experiences differ. In all this time WvWing I can safely say there was not one time I entered a fight and needed my heal and had used it to run faster. Perhaps I’m just more spatially aware. I keep looking around me as I run and fight to see where people are. If I near a place that shows there is fighting I don’t use my heal since I’m near anyway.

Anyway, it works. I would gladly use the focus and free my runes but the focus has too big a gap IMO so it does not serve the purpose.

To be fair, many runes are completely amazing in their own right. If you use MI in PvP, 6-Lyssa is absolutely crazy powerful. Especially if you also use Mirror as your heal, which can often be much stronger in WvW than the other heals due to the sheer amount of random projectiles flying around.

Kasama.8941:

Ceelaniri.8410:

well if you think the teleportation from the staff is a reliable way to go faster, whatever floats your boat

the point of these runes is that they free up a space for more utility/weapon skills avoiding limiting your choice of decent tools. Look at my post further up for my rotation.

besides, i m sceptical about the passive bonus signet of most of the other classes granting only 10% spd bonus as opposed to 33% spd bonus AOE.

to take you example:
if i m immobilized, i still got blink/tp from staff/decoy/duelist X to get away if my heal is on CD.

if i had a passive spd bonus slotted on utility i would have to discard either decoy/blink/feedback. That d be a hefty price IMHO.

or perhaps ditch the staff to get the focus instead which would reduce my survivability.

it is obviously a matter of preference but I do not believe that opting for runes of the centaur instead of a more offensive set of runes is really kittening you.

It is very reliable, of curse not on its own though. I use it while the focus swiftness is on cooldown.

As mentioned above, all it takes is a double click on a weapon in order to switch it out, which shouldn’t take you more then 1 second if you keep your inventory open while traveling. So you don’t loose anything using a focus, other then one inventory space. Using Blink only for travel is a bad idea, yes. However, if you are already using it for combat purposes, you might as well use it for traveling as well, as long as you don’t spam it when you get close to enemy territory. I’d rather use a utility skill for travel, then a healing skill, since I have two more utility skill I can use.

Swiftness is really overrated. When playing my Ranger, I can use the 10% movement speed signet, plus the leap skill (Swoop) on the greatsword, and be able to keep up with an Engineer having constant swiftness. If I use swiftness on top of that, I can easily overtake the Engineer. 33% is really not that much.

Signets come with an active skill, and you also have two more utility slots, so you aren’t really losing that much, if anything.

as i wrote, i guess it s a matter of personal taste.

I really enjoy swiftness for being able to manoeuvre in the best way possible.

that usually let me have the jump on someone or at least run away for unfavourable situation.

Kasama.8941:

Kanto.1659:

Except that it gives a 10 second buff and then you need to wait 15 seconds for it to recharge.

No, centaur rocks for everything. You also never need to heal at the start of a fight so the heal has plenty of time to recharge. If I would like to use other runes? Certainly, but I also like to reach where I want in a fast manner and 15 second gaps in swiftness is terrible.

Statistically speaking unless you lose the fight by 2% HP that extra condition damage that would have won the fight does not really enter the equation.

The staff can also give you 4 seconds swiftness, and you can use teleportation from the staff, or utility, to move forward faster as well.

Unless you are just running from door to door in Worlds PvP, or standing safely behind a wall casting skills, you do need to have your heal ready. It is very possible to turn a corner and run into a group of players. And since you are wearing light armor, it only takes an immobilize skill, or some quickness, to get your health very low fast.

I can get almost 300 more condition damage from runes. That’s equal to a full trait line, or about half the condition stats from an amulet. Runes make a big difference.

Well I for one hate the Focus, and only use the Staff for situational purposes. The Centaur rune is useful in AND out of combat. I has gotten me that kill that almost got away, it has saved my kitten MANY times running from zergs, it helps a buttload to get 14(12 just from runes and I have 20 in chaos) seconds of swift during combat every time I heal, which means I’m swifted almost all the time in combat.

I might wear light armor, but my armor stat is about 2900, which is by no means squishy. Aside from that Mesmer has SO many ways to avoid damage when played well. In fact I find myself using my heal IN combat against multiple opponents almost more often just for the swift, then for the heal itself.

But to each his own, you may not like it, but you can’t argue it isn’t a viable choice.. I would not give up my Centaur runes on my Mesmer for anything.

Kabuki.9103:

Centaur runes. Don’t WvW without it.

10s swiftness + 20% swiftness duration + 15s cd heal = profit

Don’t forget to get a level 60 karma breather from cursed shore vendor and put a 7th centaur rune in it to have swiftness on heal underwater as well!

I strongly considered using divinity runes but unless you are always in the company of someone with swiftness, it’s not worth it imho

I’ve been rocking the rune of the centaur since I first saw it on the market… Agree it’s pretty hot Wv3 wear!

For mantra healers its perma swiftness btw

dank.3680:

Well I for one hate the Focus, and only use the Staff for situational purposes. The Centaur rune is useful in AND out of combat. I has gotten me that kill that almost got away, it has saved my kitten MANY times running from zergs, it helps a buttload to get 14(12 just from runes and I have 20 in chaos) seconds of swift during combat every time I heal, which means I’m swifted almost all the time in combat.

I might wear light armor, but my armor stat is about 2900, which is by no means squishy. Aside from that Mesmer has SO many ways to avoid damage when played well. In fact I find myself using my heal IN combat against multiple opponents almost more often just for the swift, then for the heal itself.

But to each his own, you may not like it, but you can’t argue it isn’t a viable choice.. I would not give up my Centaur runes on my Mesmer for anything.

It’s not about whether it’s a viable choice, or about me telling what people must do. I’m just making sure that people who are reading this know what they are giving up in return. Runes can do so much more then make you run faster, so using it just for that just seems ignorant to me, especially when there are other options that are of better gain. You can get Rune of Rage that can give you fury on top of your power, and then use Sigil of Speed that gives you 10s swiftness whenever you kill an opponent. Or, as said many times, simply use teleportation to move forward faster. Swiftness does really not make you move that fast.

I tried the swiftness while using focus and found it left me too glass cannon for my taste.
Mantra users probably work better with centaur runes since we don’t have to use a long CD to use a heal compared to those running feast.

Kasama what people are suggesting here is a rune set – centuar for Speed both in and out of combat.

The stats on it are fairly decent for a large swathe of builds, if I was condition based (which you say its bad for) If I wasnt using centuar I be wouldnt use nightmare, Id use 2xsuperior mad king 2x major mad king 2x superior lyssa, with traits and and pizza food you should be hitting 87%+ duration on all conditions.

Centaur Runes are a brilliant set though, usable stats: power, + 15% bleed duration and a 12 secs of speed when you use heal. Great for being in and out of combat, great for travelling, and great for increasing speed when your taking damage and need to heal and avoid sources – more or less as soon as it’s off cooldown in 1 v X tbh.

In WvW mobility is king, the most mobile in a fight dictates it, whats been offered is a speed option that isnt fiddly and allows for a long duration and is viable in and out of combat.

The example of sigil of speed is just… ouch, you have to down and stomp someone in order to get the speed buff, which is in no way practical, I had a 4 v 1 fight in EB last night in which I had to down all of them and the first person downed twice before I could stomp them all, I had swiftness up for most of the fight from constant healing via those runes. I would have either been killed or really struggled if I had something pointless like that slotted and would have not seen any speed buff there until after the fight.

The only time I would say it might be okay to recommended against centaur runes is if you have a focus equipped as part of your spec, switching it in and out for travel is good until you get into combat with it on.

This is just my opinion obviously, best coarse of action is to try these different methods and pick what you feel comfortable with. I use both methods as One of my specs includes a focus and the other includes the centaur runes, but like I said I find the centaur one superior…. or I could just be forcing the price of centaur runes up!

Kasama.8941:

dank.3680:

Well I for one hate the Focus, and only use the Staff for situational purposes. The Centaur rune is useful in AND out of combat. I has gotten me that kill that almost got away, it has saved my kitten MANY times running from zergs, it helps a buttload to get 14(12 just from runes and I have 20 in chaos) seconds of swift during combat every time I heal, which means I’m swifted almost all the time in combat.

I might wear light armor, but my armor stat is about 2900, which is by no means squishy. Aside from that Mesmer has SO many ways to avoid damage when played well. In fact I find myself using my heal IN combat against multiple opponents almost more often just for the swift, then for the heal itself.

But to each his own, you may not like it, but you can’t argue it isn’t a viable choice.. I would not give up my Centaur runes on my Mesmer for anything.

It’s not about whether it’s a viable choice, or about me telling what people must do. I’m just making sure that people who are reading this know what they are giving up in return. Runes can do so much more then make you run faster, so using it just for that just seems ignorant to me, especially when there are other options that are of better gain. You can get Rune of Rage that can give you fury on top of your power, and then use Sigil of Speed that gives you 10s swiftness whenever you kill an opponent. Or, as said many times, simply use teleportation to move forward faster. Swiftness does really not make you move that fast.

Yeah yeah, its totally great stacking as much damage as you can for 1v1 or if you plan on standing in the back of a zerg… But when it comes to 1vX or small group on small group, swiftness is going to help a hell of a lot more then some extra damage. Swiftness is not only survivability (as a
thief player also, I know just how much harder it is to CND/BS someone who has a lot of swift uptime), but it also helps stay on your targets.. Remember the first thing a person does when they take a lot of damage is run away, if they happen to be a class with a lot of speed (lol most classes!) then they will likely get away enough to heal back up.

Saying it’s ignorant, is the same as saying its not viable BTW. My opinion is that it’s ignorant to concentrate on highest damage possible builds and ignore something that adds a ton to survivability. Again you don’t need it for some playstyles.. (ie 1v1’s or campin in the back of your zerg).. Some of us don’t play that way though.

I could easily say that my deaths would be doubled if not tippled without the swift on my centaur set.. That’s because I’m an aggressive player whos not afraid to jump into a 1v5, the extra gap making power given my swiftness allowing me to reposition much easier is a life saver.. And the many many many times it’s aided me escaping from a zerg..

Number 1 way to get constant swiftness as a Mesmer— make good friends with an ele and a thief.