Guild Wars 2

So I’ve been toying around and trying to find a fairly viable Mesmer build for dungeons. I’ve been told by a few players that basically you need a guardian, 2-3 crit warriors, and a warm body to run most dungeons successfully.

I’m hoping to make my mesmer that warm body for the most part, due to time warp. I’ve been really liking using phantasms, such as the warlock or duelist, but also having a precision/crit build for the GS to use while the phantasms are up and running. Been toying around with a sword/pistol and gs, or staff/gs build.

The only thing I’m finding a problem with is it seems like the staff is more of a condition needed weapon. I know there are some dungeon builds out, but nothing like what I’m looking for.

Basically, what builds that include phantasms have been particularly effective in dungeons? Warlocks, Duelists, etc? Also, should it be more of a condition with staff or is there a good precision build that utilizes phantasms?

Staff is awesome for dungeons. Don’t let jokers tell you otherwise, and GS compliments it well. Actually it’s more like the other way around. Power/crit builds with GS will serve you well in most situations, and when it gets hairy whip out your staff and go on the defensive and support allies with CS. Against most bosses 3 warlocks will out-DPS any warrior or guardian, too.

If you prefer a support/condition build, that’s fine, too. Just let your team know beforehand. Most of the group should be DPS, but 1-2 condition/support guys can be quite useful, and mesmers do that very well. Just make sure no more than 1 other person is running condition DPS or much of your collective damage will go to waste due to stack caps.

EDIT: Since you are interested in phantasm builds, here is one I ran a while back that worked pretty well:

http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mMmz0c9cManrmManrmGG0pVcaMaMV

The key is positioning your illusions where they won’t die right away, and possibly give a little regen to allies. Since most are ranged you can set it up pretty well by watching where you stand/dodge. You will be switching up utilities and maybe some traits depending on the situation, tho. The ones I put in are baseline for general sections, but portal and decoy will be good in certain places, too.

Spend most of your time in GS and switch to staff when your teams needs some support or to put out warlocks on vets, champs, and bosses. Make sure your team knows about the combo fields you are putting down, too. Chaos Armor on leap/blast makes everyone happy in any situation.

Think of your staff like a Mace and Shield. It is a defensive/support weapon. I use Sword/Sword/Greatsword, but I’ll swap to staff on some fights (like Subject Zero) because you’ll be able to solo the boss if the rest of the group fails. Chaos Armor always gives you protection (not worded well in the tooltip), Chaos Storm will give you Aegis (if the RNG gods are in your favor), and Phase Retreat can be used while stunned, trapped, or immobilized.

This is the build I use, wearing full Berserker gear with Ruby Orbs:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAscRlwzipXUTqGaNJipC9GaBkZoapWpH82FibA

The damage is incredible and the playstyle is very rewarding. I only need path 4 Arah for Dungeon Master (and my guild doesn’t skip content or exploit paths), so I can verify that this build will work in any PVE path.

I have yet to use a GS in any dungeon unless it’s one where I know I’ll be cheesing the mobs from afar or hitting a lot of destructibles.

Staff is just soo amazing as a quickblink tool and shatter-factory machine.

I can spend entire fights in Staff constantly using my skills (especially if I work Mimic into it, the cooldowns merge just perfectly).

Inversely, I can also spend entire fights with Sword/Sword using offensive skills, but if I ever panic, Staff has my back.

iZerker is good for aoe camps. Warden does the most amount of damage and reflect projectiles but it can’t move. Warlock does a ton of single target damage (gotten ridiculous crits of 15 to 17k). I personally like the duelist for the combo finisher and stacking bleeds quickly.

I love bringing utility to dungeons as a Mesmer.

My favorite builds involve 20 points in inspiration, traiting for longer lasting and faster recharging glamour skills, and making liberal use of null field and feedback. Along with Time Warp this will give you at least 3 long lasting combo fields. Chaos Armor does not stack, so it is usually best to stagger the use of these skills.

I just wanted to thank you all for the replies. I was hoping that there were more options beyond “You need 3 warriors and a guardian plus anything else” for the dungeon path, and I’m very glad to see there are