Guild Wars 2

I believe the biggest problem with Mirage is that conflicting mechanics cause it to feel bad to play, regardless of DPS. It feels like you must choose between Ambushes, Shatters, and Phantasms. If this choice was between damage and defense, utility, or something else, it could be interesting, but instead you are choosing between different forms of damage. This causes these mechanics to work against each other. Even if clone generation is high enough to use Ambushes and Shatters together, it still feels bad to play.

To fix this, I would recommend replacing Ambush skills with Ambush Shatters, which would replace the normal Shatter skills when using Mirage Cloak. This would:

• Remove the conflict of wanting to keep clones for Ambush skills and shatter them
  for Shatter skills.
• Remove the conflict between creating a Phantasm and a Clone.
• Make Ambush Shatters feel better than the Ambushes, since they would have
  cooldowns, which would allow them to be more impactful and powerful. You would also have greater control over exactly when they are used, since you would not have to wait on your current autoattack to finish.
• Remove the awkwardness of Ambush skills, like Greatsword not activating because the autoattack’s duration is greater than Mirage Cloak’s.
• Stop Infinite Horizon from feeling like it should be baseline and competing with Dune Cloak for condi builds. This would also allow another effect to be added to Infinite Horizon, giving the opportunity for additional clone generation or survivability.
• Add synergy with core Mesmer, with the many traits that buff Shatter skills.

The only disadvantages I’m seeing are a partial loss of the ability to pretend to be a clone and the loss of new weapon-specific skills. I believe the first would be preserved by Axe 3, Illusionary Ambush, and the evasion sharing of Infinite Horizon. The loss of Ambush skills would be mitigated by having access to all 4 Ambush Shatters, rather than 2 Ambush skills, and the Ambush Shatters being more powerful/having a greater impact.

As a side note, I think the Confusion from Axe, Crystal Sands, and Jaunt should be replaced by Bleeding. This would help PvE damage, make Axe more distinct from Scepter, and synergize with Pistol. I understand that Confusion fits the Mirage theme better, but I believe the benefits greatly outweigh this and core Mesmer already has significant access to Confusion. Additionally, Burning could be adding via a modified Dune Cloak or other trait. This could be tied to the theme with crystals refracting/magnifying the desert sun, and would add another source of damage while fitting together nicely with Torch.