Guild Wars 2

tldr: Here’s the build tell me what you think.

I posted a cele mesmer build a while ago (old post) and just came back to see how the new traits changed my build. The gist of the build was maxing out mantra of restoration to have 3 instant heals/condi removals. With the new traits mantra of restoration isn’t even needed. I lost the main focus of my build but with a few tweaks it plays similar and is just as effective.

If done correctly the build has 100% reflection uptime, near 100% chaos armor/protection uptime and can shrug off most conditions with the new Temporal Enchanter trait. Illusionary Elasticity base is really strong and makes up for the lack of clone death traits.

I win most every 1v1 with the build, it has great group support and makes a good bunker. I use the build in pvp and wvw both and can fulfill multiple roles. The build lacks the burst the other mesmer builds have but the damage isn’t bad.

Give it a whirl and tell me what you think. I’ll take any questions, critiques and/or suggestions

Its okay, but I think the damage/condi pressure looks pretty low.

I’d take illusions over either inspiration or chaos to get maim the disillusioned and ineptitude. It doesn’t seem like much, but it has great synergy with dueling and lets you kill things way faster.

High reflect uptime is really nice, but it makes you vulnerable in other ways because you give up a lot to make it work. It looks decent overall but just lacking in damage, for only marginally better sustain. I’ve been running Countless’s signet celestial build and it works really well. (you can find it on youtube or his twitch stream if you want to take a look), but basically it takes dom/duel/illusions sword/pistol and staff and 3 traited signets with portal. I’ve been thinking about modifying it by not using signets and taking chaos or inspiration over illusions but the signet distortion is really strong and domination gives you way more vulnerability as a cover condition and the utility of power block. Inspiration would be weaker without mantras though, and mantras wouldn’t really synergize well with celestial in my opinion. Chaos only seems to give more boonspam and PU (bountiful disillusionment seems kind of unneeded and not enough interrupts for CI). PU could be good with torch over pistol (less bleeds though) but with the overnerfed state of chaotic dampening, I can’t really justify it over the fact that domination makes signets really powerful.

Thanks for the feedback!

The damage is a bit low but thus is the nature of most cele builds. I would agree that damage is the weak point in this build.

I would argue however that high reflection uptime is crazy strong and definitely worth it. A well timed reflect can take out half of my opponents health while also protecting the team and I.

Taking Illusions in-place of Chaos like you said might work. I hesitate to turn the build into a shatter build though, Shattering the illusions for a few torment stacks on the enemy sounds great but then you have to take into account the damage they could have done if they weren’t shattered. A lucky Winds of chaos from a clone can deal 400-800 bleed damage (not including sharper images) compared to 250-500 torment damage + any potential confusion procs.

Chaos gives me almost perma protection, plenty of regen and 3% reduced damage per illusion, that’s nothing to scoff at. PU would work fine with a torch but I refuse to get rid of the utility of the focus. Without the torch, PU would be lackluster imo. With Chaotic Interruption, a well placed chaos storm can give a quick 10-15 stacks of might. Focus #4, f3 and staff #5 are all potential interrupts, I don’t think this trait is wasted.

I will look into Countless’ build, I haven’t played around with any signet builds yet, let alone a cele signet build<3

Glad to hear that! Yeah there are different ways to play a stat set, but yeah I guess it all depends on whether not you want to shatter in the first place.

My only gripe with his build is that the signet trait and the boon removal trait share the same tier, it’d be insane with both of those traits though.

try this with the same concept but with few adjustment
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAW8clsnhy0YBawVNQtGLzGk5IWRLPfROqRZAqdyA-TJRHABZXGIt9HE4CAAwDAAA
pvp on points

reflect like crazy with manipulation
blind on shatter can shut down rampager, lich, thief etc…
perma chaos armor – sword leap every 16 sec – use it on chaos fields
stability, might, protection, vigor, regen, fury, all perma almost
cleanse ability and party support
boon share (ppl taking altruism for its bug 6 might stacks)

cele amulet for mesmer isnt very good cause of the hard time to pump perma might stacks above 10

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAW8clsnhy0YBawVNQtGLzGk5IWRLPfROqRZAqdyA-TJRHABZXGIt9HE4CAAwDAAA
I am running with something like this right now and it is pretty efective in some way, but i don’t know it can compete with mantra builds for example

It feels like pre-patch shatter mesmer with a lot more defense and dmg splited in confusion spikes and power dmg presure. Good against thieves, able to burst down ppl but still have enough sustain to compete with d/d ele

Virelion.4128:

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAW8clsnhy0YBawVNQtGLzGk5IWRLPfROqRZAqdyA-TJRHABZXGIt9HE4CAAwDAAA
I am running with something like this right now and it is pretty efective in some way, but i don’t know it can compete with mantra builds for example

It feels like pre-patch shatter mesmer with a lot more defense and dmg splited in confusion spikes and power dmg presure. Good against thieves, able to burst down ppl but still have enough sustain to compete with d/d ele

lol

Interesting build you guys got there. It looks like a solid build, just not to my play-style.

The main difference in the two builds I see is that yours uses manipulation reflects + OH sword instead of the traited focus and is a bit more offensive and shatter focused. Everything else looks pretty similar. I can’t really argue with it except to say I prefer my traited focus and cele stats more ^.^

I think cele mesmer works just fine even without might stacks, escpecially when coupled with reflects. Staff as a weapon works fantastic with cele stats as it has ample condi damage, warlock does great physical damage, and it has great survivability. No stat goes to waste in my build and I love how the weapon and stat combo meshes. I’ve dueled multiple cele engis and cele ele’s with my build and it always ends in a tie, so it can definitely compete with other cele builds, we just never die…

Sabwa.7358:

Interesting build you guys got there. It looks like a solid build, just not to my play-style.

The main difference in the two builds I see is that yours uses manipulation reflects + OH sword instead of the traited focus and is a bit more offensive and shatter focused. Everything else looks pretty similar. I can’t really argue with it except to say I prefer my traited focus and cele stats more ^.^

I think cele mesmer works just fine even without might stacks, escpecially when coupled with reflects. Staff as a weapon works fantastic with cele stats as it has ample condi damage, warlock does great physical damage, and it has great survivability. No stat goes to waste in my build and I love how the weapon and stat combo meshes. I’ve dueled multiple cele engis and cele ele’s with my build and it always ends in a tie, so it can definitely compete with other cele builds, we just never die…

I agree, that cele builds only need might stacks when their normal source of damage is sustained rather than burst (so D/D ele or necromancer). Like cele engineers in the past or celestial axe/bow warriors, they didn’t really need might stacks because some of their skills (such as prybar/jumpshot/blunderbuss and eviscerate) are so bursty that they were able to have good damage with just a smartly used intelligence sigil. Mesmer is sort of similar to that, since mind wrack is bursty in any build and we have many small sources of burst so we don’t even need an intelligence sigil.

Sabwa.7358:

Interesting build you guys got there. It looks like a solid build, just not to my play-style.

The main difference in the two builds I see is that yours uses manipulation reflects + OH sword instead of the traited focus and is a bit more offensive and shatter focused. Everything else looks pretty similar. I can’t really argue with it except to say I prefer my traited focus and cele stats more ^.^

I think cele mesmer works just fine even without might stacks, escpecially when coupled with reflects. Staff as a weapon works fantastic with cele stats as it has ample condi damage, warlock does great physical damage, and it has great survivability. No stat goes to waste in my build and I love how the weapon and stat combo meshes. I’ve dueled multiple cele engis and cele ele’s with my build and it always ends in a tie, so it can definitely compete with other cele builds, we just never die…

I was exploring new builds for I wanted to go back to my beloved traited focus I had so much fun with before the patch, and I red this 3d with interest. First, let me say I finally decided on Staff+sw/f rather than GS.

Because of that, I wanted to give cele a shot. It wasn’t that bad, but since I wanted to retain the hybrid flavour, but with more damaging capabilities, I decided to try rampager. Have YOU tried rampager? of course, it is “less” safe than cele but it is a solid choice.

This is my build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAW8dl0nha0YZawRNwtGLnG05TSy1JDwCCa5IaeCA-TJRHwAFuIAp3fAwTAwZZAA

I think it does wonders. You may notice the double mantra + mantra trait. It’s just sooo good now. Mantras don’t have a cd anymore and can be recharged after you have used the 3 charges. This will trigger the healing from Restorative Mantra, which is kind of noticeable, and its AOE too!

I am very happy now because I can do good damage, use my favourite weapon, and still be slippery as hell thanks to the mender purity+mantra healing. This is the aggressive version I am running in pvp.

If you are not an interrupt/Lockdown type of mesmer, you also may want to check the defensive variant: swapping Domination for Chaos. It means dropping all the aggressive goodies Dom brings in order to get different flavours. You will retain the 3 mantra charges + condi removal and focus reflect, though.
This is something I do when I am in wvw to get PU which is sooo good now. By loosing CS you may want to replace MoD with MoR so conditions will never be a trouble anymore, or something else of your choice.

If you hate PU mesmers and do not want to join the Fotm wagon you can still pick CI (good with staff and focus for those interrupts + immo) or the boons on shatter for stability. Both solid choices.

Last. While in wvw I run with centaur rather than travelers: lay curtain, get the buff, charge mantra and you can refresh swiftness to get a permant boon, which coupled with traited blink and PU will make you so difficult to catch that even the old nike warriors could dream of (reflecting curtain is just icing on the cake: I laugh so much when you are running away and someone is trying to throw things at you to cripple or immobilize you, but gets reflected )