Guild Wars 2

Welcome to our Special Edition of Mesmerized, our Mesmer only podcast! Our first episode went so well that we had nearly 20 questions emailed. Thanks to this overwhelming response our two hosts, Kylia Deprigen and Pyroatheist bring you answers to to questions that you have asked us, and talk not only about their favorite moments in WvW this week, but also look into some less used skills that each love and play with!

http://sittingonacouch.com/the-gw2-mesmer-podcast-mesmerized-sunday-special-questions-from-the-fans/

Check us out, and the corresponding youtube upload will be up a bit later!

i use the glamour build but i got a problem everytime i play against a zerk or 1v1 or 1vmore if the problem is that if i play everything is on cooldown i cant do anything anymore after i did every combo do you got some advise for me becous its really anoying and slow

petertje.7261:

i use the glamour build but i got a problem everytime i play against a zerk or 1v1 or 1vmore if the problem is that if i play everything is on cooldown i cant do anything anymore after i did every combo do you got some advise for me becous its really anoying and slow

Glamor at the advanced levels is really about timings, even though it is extremely fun and you can get loads of good confusion hits in a short period of times, playing in the 1v1 space or prolonged battles is really about knowing your timings and using them when opportunity presents itself. In a Zerg situation you can end up doing alot more damage by spacing out your glam fields, also don’t forget that if your packing the scepter, your confusing images which is on a short cool down and now does aoe style damage is brilliant against zergs while waiting for your glass to come up.
In the 1v1 situation you want to save your big confuse hits for when it best suits the enemies potential burst attacks.

Hope this helps

@Kylia & Pyro. Ty alot for your work on the pod and with the builds. Love the q&a.

Aftr our talk on mumble other day I accualy went to try your Glamour build Kylia, It was wery fun idd even if I prefere the reflection on focus when I play support/glamour. Also I do alot of noob misstakes you see in the vid I link

I add the ressult: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_KRD4qfSGc

/Osicat

If you are in a true 1v1 against a good player the problem is that they will simply wait out your confusion when you dump it on them and they probably aren’t going to make a telegraphed burst on you because they know you will counter it with a glamour dump. Working out you are fighting a Glamour mesmer is pretty easy, they drop a Glamour on you and you move out and get more stacks, at that point you simply apply constant pressure and stop when they use glamours/confusing images. Confusion works best when you either predict an enemy burst or force the opponent to use skills while under confusion, the later is why the current roaming engineer meta is so strong they have so many ways to pressure you that you that you feel forced to use skills while under Pry Bar/Static shot confusion (see Osicat’s duels with Drakeco).

The problem with Glamour builds is the only time you can make the opponent feel threatened is when in staff for burn/bleed stacking but as you don’t have many staff clones from Deceptive Evasion or stacks from double bounce you can’t put that much pressure on. As soon as you switch to scepter/focus for Confusing Images you stack 5 more confusion but an alert player will simply stop all they are doing and kite, a Rabid geared Mesmer using scepter (an odd power/confusion hybrid as pointed our by Kylia) is doing nothing to force the opponent to panic while having 5+ confusion stacks. This also causes a problem with getting players to burn condi cleanses, you aren’t going to burn one for Confusing Images, you just wait those stacks out while kiting, and if you get a stack from a Glamour dump then you can use your condi cleanse on that and it will almost certainly be back up before your next Glamour dump is ready, unless you are stacking 6+ bleeds from staff and its clones the opponent is going to conserve their cleanse for your Glamour dump.

An answer your question, stay in staff as much as possible when everything is on cooldown and take advantage of Rabid’s high precision by using an on crit bleed sigil (Earth) on it, also use your Glamour fields to keep Chaos Armour up as long as possible it will be a 2/3 chance confusion proc with a Glamour build and remember their utilities as well as their confusion. Opening with a Null Field straight on a Signet of Rage Warrior and wiping his 30+ secs of Fury, Swiftness and 5 Might in the first 3 seconds of the fight is a massive advantage to you. However, as Kylia said try not to have everything on cooldown unless you are dumping to ensure 5+ stacks where the opponent is going to do irreversible damage to themselves. I think these limitations of the glamour build in 1vs1 or 1vsX show how good a player Kylia is, it certainly wouldn’t be my choice for solo roaming, in my opinion the gear you use can be put to better use with a Shatter variant where your high precision synergises with 20 in Dueling for perma Vigor and all Illusions bleeding on crits.

Also can’t belive I forgot this, the podcast is brilliant! Thanks for all the effort you’ve gone to and long may it continue.

ime sick off this build only getting 600dmg from confusion really i got everything based around condisions -.- wane rerolle

Great podcast! Thanks for answering so many questions. I really enjoy the way that you answer them in depth and talk about how the game plays for you.

One of my big takeaways is that I actually need to think about what level I’m shooting to play at. It makes total sense that if your defenses are unavailable that you would want to stack confusion as a form of defense to prevent the other guy from attacking – but it never crossed my mind. Similarly, playing other professions would make me much better prepared to handle what’s going on with them, but I am unlikely to put in that much time.

Maybe on a future episode it would b possible for you to talk about different levels of challenge and what build(s) you would recommend for each. For example,
regular pve – any build (shattercat most fun?)
dungeons – pve phantasm support build?
fractals – (is this different than dungeons?)
wvw – glamour / immortal (is this different running with zerg versus running in small group/duo/single)
pvp – ?

I think my game is likely to max out in wvw support groups with the goal of getting decent in smaller fights (which I’m not good at yet). So ideally, I find one set of gear and one or two trait setups that I can happily play through all that.

Thanks again – great work!

Thank you for answering some of my questions. I’m hoping the condition damage versus condition duration question is being saved for another time (fingers crossed). I also really appreciated the little tidbit Kylia threw in there about not stacking toughness beyond 1500 and how it balances with vitality. That’s the kind of information that really helps in playing with different gear options.

I played WOW for almost 7 years so it’s been hard for me to wrap my brain around no difinitive diminishing returns (before 100%) on things like crit. I’m so used to having to factor in internal cooldowns that make it pointless to stack some stats beyond a certain point. I guess overall it doesn’t matter as this isn’t really a min/max kind of game but I sort of miss that.

P.S. Kylia are there any alternative gear options for your new build, named gear sets get a little expensive for us peons that just want to test before making a 10-20g commitment to a build.

Karmasutra.9351:

Thank you for answering some of my questions. I’m hoping the condition damage versus condition duration question is being saved for another time (fingers crossed). I also really appreciated the little tidbit Kylia threw in there about not stacking toughness beyond 1500 and how it balances with vitality. That’s the kind of information that really helps in playing with different gear options.

I played WOW for almost 7 years so it’s been hard for me to wrap my brain around no difinitive diminishing returns (before 100%) on things like crit. I’m so used to having to factor in internal cooldowns that make it pointless to stack some stats beyond a certain point. I guess overall it doesn’t matter as this isn’t really a min/max kind of game but I sort of miss that.

P.S. Kylia are there any alternative gear options for your new build, named gear sets get a little expensive for us peons that just want to test before making a 10-20g commitment to a build.

Rabid gear can be obtained from orr karma vendors, twilight arbor, caudecus manor, honor of the waves, and arah.

Edit: Also from wvw badges, as per the most recent patch I believe.

Pyroatheist.9031:

Karmasutra.9351:

Thank you for answering some of my questions. I’m hoping the condition damage versus condition duration question is being saved for another time (fingers crossed). I also really appreciated the little tidbit Kylia threw in there about not stacking toughness beyond 1500 and how it balances with vitality. That’s the kind of information that really helps in playing with different gear options.

I played WOW for almost 7 years so it’s been hard for me to wrap my brain around no difinitive diminishing returns (before 100%) on things like crit. I’m so used to having to factor in internal cooldowns that make it pointless to stack some stats beyond a certain point. I guess overall it doesn’t matter as this isn’t really a min/max kind of game but I sort of miss that.

P.S. Kylia are there any alternative gear options for your new build, named gear sets get a little expensive for us peons that just want to test before making a 10-20g commitment to a build.

Rabid gear can be obtained from orr karma vendors, twilight arbor, caudecus manor, honor of the waves, and arah.

Edit: Also from wvw badges, as per the most recent patch I believe.

New build doesn’t use Rabid

I have yet to find any items, if I do, I’ll make sure to let you know!

petertje.7261:

i use the glamour build but i got a problem everytime i play against a zerk or 1v1 or 1vmore if the problem is that if i play everything is on cooldown i cant do anything anymore after i did every combo do you got some advise for me becous its really anoying and slow

in 1v1 is glamour spec not the best prob however dont forget about huge uptime on ur chaos armor … that makes killing u pretty tough mostly when there is 2/3 chance to get confusion from hitting u
if u feel than ur unable to tric opponent into high confusion stack simply get away … null field their swiftness and run

kylia.4813:

Pyroatheist.9031:

Karmasutra.9351:

Thank you for answering some of my questions. I’m hoping the condition damage versus condition duration question is being saved for another time (fingers crossed). I also really appreciated the little tidbit Kylia threw in there about not stacking toughness beyond 1500 and how it balances with vitality. That’s the kind of information that really helps in playing with different gear options.

I played WOW for almost 7 years so it’s been hard for me to wrap my brain around no difinitive diminishing returns (before 100%) on things like crit. I’m so used to having to factor in internal cooldowns that make it pointless to stack some stats beyond a certain point. I guess overall it doesn’t matter as this isn’t really a min/max kind of game but I sort of miss that.

P.S. Kylia are there any alternative gear options for your new build, named gear sets get a little expensive for us peons that just want to test before making a 10-20g commitment to a build.

Rabid gear can be obtained from orr karma vendors, twilight arbor, caudecus manor, honor of the waves, and arah.

Edit: Also from wvw badges, as per the most recent patch I believe.

New build doesn’t use Rabid

I have yet to find any items, if I do, I’ll make sure to let you know!

I think the closest I could find was Knight’s gear power, precision, toughness, which actually might not be too bad of a compromise since you loose so much toughness in the build and then just add the superior runes of rage.

Karmasutra.9351:

kylia.4813:

Pyroatheist.9031:

Karmasutra.9351:

Thank you for answering some of my questions. I’m hoping the condition damage versus condition duration question is being saved for another time (fingers crossed). I also really appreciated the little tidbit Kylia threw in there about not stacking toughness beyond 1500 and how it balances with vitality. That’s the kind of information that really helps in playing with different gear options.

I played WOW for almost 7 years so it’s been hard for me to wrap my brain around no difinitive diminishing returns (before 100%) on things like crit. I’m so used to having to factor in internal cooldowns that make it pointless to stack some stats beyond a certain point. I guess overall it doesn’t matter as this isn’t really a min/max kind of game but I sort of miss that.

P.S. Kylia are there any alternative gear options for your new build, named gear sets get a little expensive for us peons that just want to test before making a 10-20g commitment to a build.

Rabid gear can be obtained from orr karma vendors, twilight arbor, caudecus manor, honor of the waves, and arah.

Edit: Also from wvw badges, as per the most recent patch I believe.

New build doesn’t use Rabid

I have yet to find any items, if I do, I’ll make sure to let you know!

I think the closest I could find was Knight’s gear power, precision, toughness, which actually might not be too bad of a compromise since you loose so much toughness in the build and then just add the superior runes of rage.

My bad, it uses Rampagers: power minor, cd minor, precision major.

Rampagers is probably the easiest of any stat combos to find. It can, of course, be found at some orr karma vendors. It can also be crafted.
The dungeons that have it are the 2 easiest and fastest dungeons in the game: Ascalonian catacombs and citadel of flame. Also arah, but you’re not gonna run that for rampagers gear.

Bas,

Thanks for the information and the great podcast. I don’t think you intended this as a “mesmer questions here”, but it may start a super thread for FAQs. That said: I need some assistance of my own and hope that you Mesmer elite might give me some feedback.

I am torn between Mesmer, Guardian and <insert other class here). My guardian and Mesmer are 80’s, so I want to focus just on one. I do PVP, which I prefer Mesmer hands down. I do PVE, which I slightly prefer Mesmer and of course PVE, which I vastly prefer the Guardian. Apples and oranges, I know.

Why I mention this is because it surprised me. It isn’t the lack of defense in PVE, but the lack of offense. I am running 20/20/0/0/30 using GS/S-F. I have primarily Beserker’s on and don’t seem to be doing that much more damage than my scepter guardian, completely built for support. Equal gear and equal skill level. Granted, it IS more, but not super noticeable when doing PVE. I did run an alternative to that build 20/20/0/20/10 and used focus to block proj.

Even more frustrating is that I just did a guild bounty where the mob causes you to go on fire CONSTANTLY and quickly realized, or thought I did, that Mesmers have little to no condition removal.

All that said, my questions are:

Should I incorporate the staff for more DPS?
Any suggestions on builds that give good DPS, but with condition removals and slippery-ness.
Does GS and Sword really just not do that much damage?
What build does well (not great, leet or viable) in PVE, PVP and WVW?

Your insight is appreciated. Thanks!

I have no insight into mesmer’s but there are some great people who do. I don’t mind it at all if this turns into the FAQ for Mesmer’s I am sure it would make Pyro, Osci, Fay, and Kylia’s job much easier :P.

I’m only playing my Mesmer alt a little, but I for sure enjoy listning you guys doing the podcast! And there is a lot of good information for me for when I face off against Mesmers aswells, so thanks for helping the enemy! So yeah, it’s a really awesome Podcast, keep up the great work! You both do a great jop at answearing the questions and giving good information!

Double Big Thump Ups from here!

@Rhoellan: Try using my pve phantasm support build: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Guide-PvE-Supporting-Phantasm-Build/first#post1761930

It’s pretty much optimized for PvE gameplay. It has very good dps, great survivability, and really high group utility.

Amadeus.5687:

I’m only playing my Mesmer alt a little, but I for sure enjoy listning you guys doing the podcast! And there is a lot of good information for me for when I face off against Mesmers aswells, so thanks for helping the enemy! So yeah, it’s a really awesome Podcast, keep up the great work! You both do a great jop at answearing the questions and giving good information!

Double Big Thump Ups from here!

Amadeus!! How you doing mate? Are the engineer forums calming down a bit? I have been thinking of expanding to the Engineers for a podcast next once the Guardian and Ranger ones are up and running! “Hint, hint” :P

Hehe hey there Bas, yeah The Engineer forums appear to slowly have calmed down after the KR nerf and people have begun to settle down with their builds, so yeah, the Engineer’s appear to have calmed down! The tPvP players are still testing new stuff out, but HGH Grenade builds still appear to be the big deal in there at the moment!

I will be looking forward to the Ranger and Guardian Podcast, the Ranger one the most, I need to know more about them pet lovers!! Hehe and just contact me if the Engineer one turn into something! ^^

Hi Amadeus / Dustbringer! ;D We discussing you and your class in Kylias and Pyros latest Mesmer pod.

/Osicat

Thanks Bas and Pyro for the feedback and thank you everyone for your assistance and podcast goodness.

To keep things rolling, I was wondering if EMPOWERED ILLUSIONS and PHANTASMAL STRENGTH stack with one another? I have searched the forums and the wiki, but have never received a response.

Rhoellan.5462:

Thanks Bas and Pyro for the feedback and thank you everyone for your assistance and podcast goodness.

To keep things rolling, I was wondering if EMPOWERED ILLUSIONS and PHANTASMAL STRENGTH stack with one another? I have searched the forums and the wiki, but have never received a response.

I apologize for the offtopic response :P. I saw Amadeus and it made me laugh. I loved your questions, and they have puzzled me too whenever I look over the Mesmer trait line I wonder about it.

Rhoellan.5462:

To keep things rolling, I was wondering if EMPOWERED ILLUSIONS and PHANTASMAL STRENGTH stack with one another? I have searched the forums and the wiki, but have never received a response.

Yes, they do.