Guild Wars 2

Greatings all,

I’m new to mesmer ( love it ) and I have few questions regarding WvW roaming builds.

• Is Healing power usefull as it is for rangers ? I was theory crafting with Settler’s equip and it seems pretty good for a bunker condi build ( I’ve not tested it yet )

• It looks like regen is almost permanent ( is it enough ? )

• The trait Illusionary membrane grants protection every 15 sec which is preatty good combined with PU

• Mirror or Ether feast ? mirror grants less healing, roughly – 60 heal per second without illusions, but with Mender’s purity I can remove 2 conditions + reflect projectiles every 15 seconds instead of 20.

• is Phantasmal disenchanter viable for stripping boons from enemys ( like stability ) and also as a condi removal ?

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAW7flwziqHUzoGb9IhpHBH5A/0DoL9njqw1B-jEyAodBZqBM5JQ59ioxW3KiGrWnIqW3g5VKiWtUAKKNC-w

Thanks

* Is Healing power usefull as it is for rangers ? I was theory crafting with Settler’s equip and it seems pretty good for a bunker condi build ( I’ve not tested it yet )

- Healing power is a bad stat for Mesmers. Just about the only thing it affects well is Regen, so it’d only be “useful” in a full support zerg build (not roaming). Even then I put quotes on “useful” – there are much better stats to chase. (and if you want to ask “which stats”, really anything other than healing power is better – take your pick. LOL)

* It looks like regen is almost permanent ( is it enough ? )

- With the Inspiration trait (Phants give you regen), it’s relatively easy to have permanent regen.

* The trait Illusionary membrane grants protection every 15 sec which is preatty good combined with PU

- Yes. (LOL didn’t look like a question)

* Mirror or Ether feast ? mirror grants less healing, roughly – 60 heal per second without illusions, but with Mender’s purity I can remove 2 conditions + reflect projectiles every 15 seconds instead of 20.

- You hit the nail on the head – basically, this is going to come down to your preference really. I’ve seen folks swear by both (I don’t use Mirror, so I’m in the “Ether Feast” camp LOL).

* is Phantasmal disenchanter viable for stripping boons from enemys ( like stability ) and also as a condi removal ?

- Again, I’ve seen quite a few swear by the iDisenchanter. However, for me, I don’t really trust ANet’s AI – I’d rather control my condi removal. I generally use the mantra and mender’s purity, condis aren’t much of an issue usually.

Welcome to the crew, and enjoy playing your Mesmer!

Tangential note: I think, in general, rabid pieces are the best for condition builds because lots of condi mesmers rely on Sharper Images. It doesn’t matter for you, since you don’t trait into the Dueling line. For you, I think dire pieces might suit you better. Healing power isn’t great on mesmer, though it might work with signet of ether + permanent regen. That said, your survivability really comes from blinks, evades, blocks, distortion, dazes, etc., and you really don’t need the healing power boost. If anything, having more health would help you bunker better in this condi-heavy meta, and dire gear will give you just that without sacrificing that much armor.

On mirror vs. ether feast: I prefer ether feast myself, since I find the heal to be significantly better. That said, if you’re fighting p/d thieves or p/p engis, swapping to mirror could be better for you, for both the reflect and extra condi clear.

Disenchanter could work in your build for small group play. Phantasms are generally ineffective in zergs, since they get killed so quickly. Disenchanter, especially, needs to stay up for quite some time if you want it to be more effective than, say, null field or arcane thievery. If your opponent has good aoe or is just good about taking out your phantasms, then I’d recommend taking arcane thievery or null field instead. Similarly if your opponent is good at kiting, since phantasms move very slowly.

A general note about playing mesmer: I feel like mesmers, more than any class, demands and rewards flexible play. I change my build all the time for dungeons, for WvW roaming/zerging/dueling, for tPvP roamer/bunker/support, etc. In that spirit, MANY of our utilities and heals are useful in certain situations, and you should be swapping utilities frequently. If I don’t change my build, I sure as hell swap my utilities before an encounter. Just about every 5 minutes or so, my utility bar looks different.

My advice to you is to get used to swapping utilities, no matter what you’re doing (unless you’re tPvPing). In that vein, don’t settle on mirror or disenchanter and be done with it. Both of those skills are more useful in certain circumstances and less useful in others. Learn what those situations are and pick the utilities based on that.

mango.9267:

Disenchanter could work in your build for small group play. Phantasms are generally ineffective in zergs, since they get killed so quickly.

This is quite true.

mango.9267:

Disenchanter, especially, needs to stay up for quite some time if you want it to be more effective than, say, null field or arcane thievery.

This is really false.

mango.9267:

Similarly if your opponent is good at kiting, since phantasms move very slowly.

So is this.

Phantasms move at about normal movement speed. However, they all either use ranged attacks or have some sort of gap closing leap (other than the warden) which allows them to hit reliably. In the case of the iDisenchanter, it has a ranged attack, making its movement speed completely irrelevant.

On average, the iDisenchanter does more in 1 attack than null field does if you stand in the field for the full duration, and it absolutely does more than arcane thievery. The iDisenchanter uses a bouncing attack that will hit a total of 5 targets, removing 2 boons from enemies hit and 2 conditions from allies hit. It uses this attack every 4 seconds, and is on a 20 seconds cooldown, compared to 40 seconds for null field and 45 seconds for arcane thievery. You do the math.

Thanks for the replies guys, very appreciated.

@ Mango. Changing utilities will actually help me a lot in some cases, like using mimic when the warrior is casting kill shot.

• Any tips for condi mantra build ? I always hate to spend points in power/crit traits when im focused on toughness/condi dmg.

Right now I have this build, is it any good ? :

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAW7fl4zyoHSzoGb9IhpHBH5An0jS/6VXqwtB-jkCBoOCy0CwkHBKTqIasF4RrsJIVWhV3ATxiIq2joIa1SBoo0I-w

Or should I use perplexity runes ? :
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAW7fl4zyoHSzoGb9IhpHBH5An0jS/6VXqwtB-jECBoOCy0CwkHBKTqIasl1FRjV3ATxiIq2joIa1SBoo0I-w

sminkiottone.6972:

Thanks for the replies guys, very appreciated.

@ Mango. Changing utilities will actually help me a lot in some cases, like using mimic when the warrior is casting kill shot.

• Any tips for condi mantra build ? I always hate to spend points in power/crit traits when im focused on toughness/condi dmg.

Right now I have this build, is it any good ? :

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAW7fl4zyoHSzoGb9IhpHBH5An0jS/6VXqwtB-jkCBoOCy0CwkHBKTqIasF4RrsJIVWhV3ATxiIq2joIa1SBoo0I-w

Or should I use perplexity runes ? :
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAW7fl4zyoHSzoGb9IhpHBH5An0jS/6VXqwtB-jECBoOCy0CwkHBKTqIasl1FRjV3ATxiIq2joIa1SBoo0I-w

Honestly, that build is horrible.

Your rune choices are really schizophrenic. You’ve got 3 random runesets, and I can’t figure out why you’re using a mix.

How exactly are you planning on doing damage? You’ve got crippling dissipation and debilitating dissipation, but you can’t really use those without deceptive evasion. You also don’t have sharper images (and you’re using dire gear) so a lot of bleed pressure from illusions is gone. A warrior with healing signet could literally go afk, and you would be unable to kill them.

You’ll be pretty tanky certainly, with the 3 tap condition removal mantra and heal mantra, but that’s about it. Your build has almost 0 damage potential, will be slow, and will be really vulnerable to interrupts when you try to recharge your mantras.

sminkiottone.6972:

• Is Healing power usefull as it is for rangers ? I was theory crafting with Settler’s equip and it seems pretty good for a bunker condi build ( I’ve not tested it yet )

Mesmer actually scales quite well with healing power. Ether feast scales 1.0 + .1 per illusion, and regen scales 2.8 per 20 seconds. That being said, usually you don’t want to build for healing power unless you really want to go for bunkering, as it’s just not necessary.

sminkiottone.6972:

• It looks like regen is almost permanent ( is it enough ? )

It is permanent. Whether it’s enough depends on how you play.

sminkiottone.6972:

• Mirror or Ether feast ? mirror grants less healing, roughly – 60 heal per second without illusions, but with Mender’s purity I can remove 2 conditions + reflect projectiles every 15 seconds instead of 20.

In general you’ll basically want to figure the amount of damage avoided with that reflect, and see if that makes up the difference. If you’re going zerging, it may well be worth it, or against a pistol mainhand thief or something, but against a backstab thief it wouldn’t be. It’s sorta situational.

sminkiottone.6972:

• is Phantasmal disenchanter viable for stripping boons from enemys ( like stability ) and also as a condi removal ?

Very.

sminkiottone.6972:

Greatings all,

I’m new to mesmer ( love it ) and I have few questions regarding WvW roaming builds.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAW7flwziqHUzoGb9IhpHBH5A/0DoL9njqw1B-jEyAodBZqBM5JQ59ioxW3KiGrWnIqW3g5VKiWtUAKKNC-w

Thanks

Part of WvW is run speed… Pretty large maps. I would definitely recommend runes of speed if you dont change anything else.

iDisenchanter and Null Field is kinda overkill imo. Although it is worth noting the iDisenchanter having 900 range it sure does like to get in around 600 for the first strike. With a condition build Id probably only be worried about regen for boons so…

Im not much of a condition build person… So take this suggestion with a grain of salt. Apothecary trinkets and weapons with dire armor? It really depends on if you are trying to hit specific numbers…

One other personal preference would be swapping a sigil of geo with sigil of doom. Definitely look into runes of speed or runes of the traveller (runes of centaur if you use mantra heal).

Pyroatheist.9031:

Honestly, that build is horrible.

Your rune choices are really schizophrenic. You’ve got 3 random runesets, and I can’t figure out why you’re using a mix.

How exactly are you planning on doing damage? You’ve got crippling dissipation and debilitating dissipation, but you can’t really use those without deceptive evasion. You also don’t have sharper images (and you’re using dire gear) so a lot of bleed pressure from illusions is gone. A warrior with healing signet could literally go afk, and you would be unable to kill them.

You’ll be pretty tanky certainly, with the 3 tap condition removal mantra and heal mantra, but that’s about it. Your build has almost 0 damage potential, will be slow, and will be really vulnerable to interrupts when you try to recharge your mantras.

The damage part is a problem, the main sources of damage are bleed/torment/confusion…

Is Dire equipe + Perplexity runes worth it ? and how about this build ?

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAW7fl0ziqHWzoGb9IhpH9G5A/UBoj6x1te1B-jECBoOCy0CwkHBKTqIasl1FRjV3ATxiIq2joIa1SBoo0I-w

Definitely check out the Mesmer Builds thread.

Pyroatheist.9031:

mango.9267:

Similarly if your opponent is good at kiting, since phantasms move very slowly.

So is this.

Phantasms move at about normal movement speed. However, they all either use ranged attacks or have some sort of gap closing leap (other than the warden) which allows them to hit reliably. In the case of the iDisenchanter, it has a ranged attack, making its movement speed completely irrelevant.

I wouldn’t go so far as reliable. Whenever I fight a mesmer, and I see a phantasm go up, I can run out of range or dodge its attack fairly easily. For example, you can hear when a duelist attacks, and 2 dodges will avoid the entire thing; 1 dodge will avoid 4 hits. iZerker and iSwordsman are probably the hardest to avoid, but even then, a blink into a clever spot will do the trick.

Disenchanter works a bit like warlock, and warlock’s slow-moving, gimmicky projectiles are easily avoided by kiting and blinking in/out of range. I usually don’t have trouble just kiting the disenchanter around.

Pyroatheist.9031:

On average, the iDisenchanter does more in 1 attack than null field does if you stand in the field for the full duration, and it absolutely does more than arcane thievery. The iDisenchanter uses a bouncing attack that will hit a total of 5 targets, removing 2 boons from enemies hit and 2 conditions from allies hit. It uses this attack every 4 seconds, and is on a 20 seconds cooldown, compared to 40 seconds for null field and 45 seconds for arcane thievery. You do the math.

In theory, yes, but in practice, it’s not quite that potent. If you’re constantly moving and making the mesmer chase you, the Disenchanter has to chase as well before it gets in range to attack. Often, due to phantasms’ buggy AI, it’ll chase you, stop, attack, and fall short because you keep on moving and run out of range. Not to mention the fact that it takes up a phantasm slot. It can also be de-summoned if you’re unscrupulous with your phantasm management.

Arcane thievery, on the other hand, can’t be predicted. Your opponent will pretty much be completely unaware of when you cast it. Similarly with null-field. If you place it right, you can guarantee at least one (maybe two) pulses. More if combo into immobilize/stun. Not to mention it gives you a nice ethereal field.

That’s not to say Disenchanter is bad or useless. I find the circumstances in which it’s effective is when opponents don’t kite you/make you chase and when they don’t kill your phantasms. In those circumstances, it does outperform arcane thievery and null field. Otherwise, I find the latter two more reliable.

One of the main problems I am finding in WvW is finding room for all the utilities I need. There are some that I really need/want all the time for dueling but others that are really useful for helping the team, like portal.

So even though I usually dedicate a slot to something like the Disenchanter in PvP, I don’t have room for it in WvW. Just too many other things.

Have to make hard choices and give up some things for others. You’ll be good at dueling, or better at zerging, or provide more support to a havoc team. And have to be prepared to change things around too.

You can swap out utilities. I normally do not run with Portal, but if I’m working with a group that needs it, I’ll add it to my bar temporarily.

I tend to use Disenchanter as my primary condi clear now. I mostly fight solo and small groups. I don’t have too much trouble with opponents dodging all of it because I usually have it up in conjunction with a berserker and a duelist, and I try to use magic bullet and illusionary wave to stun or knockdown opponents.

Yesterday I made few tests with mesmer ( dire + perplexity runes 0/0/30/20/20 ) and the results where impressive ! I really like this class, maybe more than elementalist.

I just have few concernes about mesmer :

• With the bloodlust buff is too easy to find the real mesmer ( unintended nerf ? )

• Perplexity runes seems a bit OP, even after the nerf, with them I could stack up to 15 stacks of confusion and reapply them few seconds leter if cleansed.

• Arcane thievery seems bugged, few times it didnt gave me any of the enemy boofs and I’m pretty sure I was in range and the foe didn’t dodged it. The condi cleanse works good.

• Torment with around 2k condi dmg is impressive ! the tooltip says 15k dmg if moving and the enemys drop like flies, isn’t it too much damage ? between confusion and torment the foe can’t attack or run without killing himself in the process.

• Blink seems to work only on flat land, I tought it was like lighning flash and this one it’s not bugged.

sminkiottone.6972:

• With the bloodlust buff is too easy to find the real mesmer ( unintended nerf ? )

There’s many ways to find the real mesmer, and bloodlust stacks are only one of them. Ultimately any competent opponent will locate the real mesmer rapidly, no matter how hard you try, so play assuming that.

sminkiottone.6972:

• Perplexity runes seems a bit OP, even after the nerf, with them I could stack up to 15 stacks of confusion and reapply them few seconds leter if cleansed.

Perplexity runes are…interesting, but less op on mesmer than on many other classes with more spammable interrupts.

• Arcane thievery seems bugged, few times it didnt gave me any of the enemy boofs and I’m pretty sure I was in range and the foe didn’t dodged it. The condi cleanse works good.

sminkiottone.6972:

• Torment with around 2k condi dmg is impressive ! the tooltip says 15k dmg if moving and the enemys drop like flies, isn’t it too much damage ? between confusion and torment the foe can’t attack or run without killing himself in the process.

Remember that the 15k damage occurs over the course of 12 seconds. It’s an application that is really vulnerable to condition removal, but if they have no removal or choose not to remove it, it’s very punishing.

sminkiottone.6972:

• Blink seems to work only on flat land, I tought it was like lighning flash and this one it’s not bugged.

Blink works exactly the same as lightning flash. Not sure where you’ve seen it bug out.

Pyroatheist.9031:

sminkiottone.6972:

• Blink seems to work only on flat land, I tought it was like lighning flash and this one it’s not bugged.

Blink works exactly the same as lightning flash. Not sure where you’ve seen it bug out.

I tried it out 3 times only, it happened every time I used blink to climb the stairs of a tower ( Greenbriar on red border ) while running, very time it teleported right in front of me and not where it was the target location, this has never happened with lightning flash.

I will check it again later, maybe it was just me