Guild Wars 2

This was in ESL weekly/monthly finals I think?

I think both Mesmers had GS/Staff as their main weapons…not sure of traits though

It was Frostball and Helseth. Both were running dom/duel/illusions with your typical traits in dom/duel and compounding power, shattered strength and ineptitude in illusions. Highest damage spec available on mesmer at the moment.

I was very pleased to finally see more higher tier mesmers run this. I think PU took away some of this spec’s thunder but I personally think this has been best all along.

I’ll add that when I say “highest damage spec”, I mean the trait lines themselves. It’s rather obvious that chaos and inspiration are more defensive but it has surprised me that more higher tier mesmers haven’t gone more ham with a spec like we saw today until now.

So if this was a pure power build, doesn’t that take away some of the benefits of the staff? (It’s more condi, right?)

Staff in a build like this isn’t about the conditions at all; it’s about the defensive and kiting abilities it has, as well as mobility.

Staff has always been used in Power builds. As Skcamow said, it’s a defensive weapon that compensates for the GS’s purely offensive nature very well.

And it really isn’t much of a condi weapon. After the 23/06 nerf it doesn’t output the condi pressure it used to, Sceptre is far more of a condi weapon than Staff is and even Sceptre’s more of a hybrid weapon.

Actually I believe Frostball (and also sometimes Helseth) used Maim instead of shattered strength. It is something I had seen before from Helseth, but it feels weird in a non-condi build. The only explanation I could come up with is that since they try to burst people down, the slow might build up just doesn’t help, so the very small DPS increase from the torment is more useful. Still weird though…

I think it makes sense, especially in team fights where you may get some Might stacking from allies.

(Maim and Strength should really be in different tiers.)

Embolism.8106:

(Maim and Strength should really be in different tiers.)

Just another way they nerfed Condition Mesmer.

Silverkey.2078:

Actually I believe Frostball (and also sometimes Helseth) used Maim instead of shattered strength. It is something I had seen before from Helseth, but it feels weird in a non-condi build. The only explanation I could come up with is that since they try to burst people down, the slow might build up just doesn’t help, so the very small DPS increase from the torment is more useful. Still weird though…

This is actual quite useful compared to the mightstacks. I mean after you lose a huge chunk of your health from a burst those condis ticking for a fair amount actually provide decent pressure against someone trying to recover from said burst.

Scamcow’s done the math/data collection behind it with illusions shatter builds, but basically the condi pressure ends up doing a lot more damage over the course of the game than you’d initially think.

Too bad next Friday this build as we know it will probably just replace illusions with chronomancer

skcamow.3527:

It was Frostball and Helseth. Both were running dom/duel/illusions with your typical traits in dom/duel and compounding power, shattered strength and ineptitude in illusions. Highest damage spec available on mesmer at the moment.

I was very pleased to finally see more higher tier mesmers run this. I think PU took away some of this spec’s thunder but I personally think this has been best all along.

Seems that this build is geared towards 5 man synergy. From what I’ve seen so far in my time back in the game (my experience is limited), PU seems to be a better option in PUG’s/solos because of the mobility and survivability it provides.

Great to see a full power build used in cohesive gameplay though.

MtD also provides valuable cover condis to stack over the GS cripples and Ineptitude blinds :P

Didn’t at least one of them run OH Torch? Or am I mixing up teams?

Regardless, I was like ‘Please, no Mesmer = Meta, Mesmer = OP threads’…