Guild Wars 2

Why do mesmer clones do 0 damage? I’m a level 30 staff mesmer with 10 in chaos and 10 in illusions but 0 damage? Really?! Even in WvW where my character is buffed to 80 they still pull off 0-5 damage.

Because clones aren’t suppose to be damage dealers.

Clones are more of a diversion- phantasms are the damage dealers for a Mesmer. Clones are still very useful though- they draw hits from you, they can be shattered, and, as a staff Mesmer, they cast Winds of Chaos, and apply conditions/buffs just as you do.

15 points in Dueling for Sharper Images and clones cast bleeds when you crit. This works especially well with Staff clones and WoC.

Scepter clones do not benefit from Sharper Images and therefore do not apply bleeds.

If I remember correctly, stats that your clone can inherit in full are toughness, precision, and condition damage. The other stats don’t transfer over well. On the other hand, phantasms get the added bonus of scaling well with power.. That being said, staff clones are really the only ones that can do decent damage with their WoC autoattack if you invest in some condition damage. To give a frame of reference, at 0 condition damage, staff clones can do burns around 328 dps and bleeds at 43 dps * 5 secs. At 1000 condition dmg, they can do burns and bleeds around 589 dps and 97 dps (485 dmg over 5 secs) respectively.

Sceptre Clones do benefit from Sharper Images, although given their slow rate of attack they’re the worst Clones to apply Bleeding with.

If you’re using the Staff then your Clones actually do a reasonable amount of damage, as most damage from WoC is condition which Clones apply in full (except Staff Clone WoC Bleeding lasts only 5s instead of 7s, probably a bug).

My clones can hit for ~100-500 damage at level 80. Of course, shattering them lets me do at least 1000 damage with each. If I get an F2 off, it equates to ~800 damage hitting twice. F1 is approximately 1500 damage. F3 stacks Vulnerability (specced) allowing me to deal bonus 25% more damage with other skills. F4 lets me heal up and survive, essentially forcing the enemy to target my clones, if you will understand the metaphor.

I’m not sure why this keeps coming up. Clones are not supposed to do damage. Clones have never done damage. Clones will never do damage. This has been asked and answered so many times its ridiculous. If you want your summons to do damage, you use phantasms, not clones.

There was in time in Beta when Clones did a significant amount of direct damage. The wording of Empowered Illusions, which is a relic of that time, probably doesn’t help either.

More importantly, the fact that Staff and Trident Clones deal a significant amount of damage by themselves while other Clones do not further pushes the impression that Clones should be dealing direct damage.

Embolism.8106:

There was in time in Beta when Clones did a significant amount of direct damage. The wording of Empowered Illusions, which is a relic of that time, probably doesn’t help either.

More importantly, the fact that Staff and Trident Clones deal a significant amount of damage by themselves while other Clones do not further pushes the impression that Clones should be dealing direct damage.

Environmental Weapon clones tend to do the most damage for me. Roll with any environmental weapon and it SHOULD come as a pseudo-scepter clone with no scepter attached. Those ones, at least to my perception, do the most damage.

Esplen.3940:

My clones can hit for ~100-500 damage at level 80. Of course, shattering them lets me do at least 1000 damage with each. If I get an F2 off, it equates to ~800 damage hitting twice. F1 is approximately 1500 damage. F3 stacks Vulnerability (specced) allowing me to deal bonus 25% more damage with other skills. F4 lets me heal up and survive, essentially forcing the enemy to target my clones, if you will understand the metaphor.

If you mean your clones do 1-5 damage with auto-attack that seems about right. But 100 – 500? No.

Unless you are adding condition damage to that (Sharper Images), and then the math makes more sense (around 42 per second, five second bleeds = 210 damage, and then it stacks).

@Kanto, he might look at numbers the staff clones do, if you get a burn tick applyed by a clone it can look like the clone hit for 500~. Its idd not direct
dmg and reliable eather as its ranom condition.

/Osicat

Clones can only deal consistent damage through conditions. Phantasms are what deal direct damage. Clones are mainly used as deception and shatter fodder, though.

Clone damage comes from; Winds of Chaos (staff clones), Sharper Images (trait; illusions inflict bleeding on crits), Confusing Combatants (trait; clones cause confusion when killed), and then through your shatter skills Mind Wrack and Cry of Frustration. That’s all clones can do in terms of damage.