Guild Wars 2

Hello everyone! I’ve recently bought and started GW2 two days ago and I’m having a lot of fun playing as Mesmer. However, my concern is I don’t know whether I’m doing a correct/decent setup for Shatter Mesmer.

I’m currently using GS / Sword + Torch setup. I have Mantra of Resolve + Healing Mantra, along with Blink and Decoy. I also have Mass Invisible. Gear wise, being only level 45ish, I only have power/ferocity and all my equips.

Is this how I should be like when I hit 80 or should I fix up anything?

Torch is not really the best weapon to use with Shatter Mesmer. Most tend to use focus/sword/pistol for the offhand weapon. There are a few that use GS/Staff as a combination for their weapons. Suggested armors are either Berserker or Assassin. So, overall, you are on the right track. =) As for utilities, that is typically dependent upon the player. Suggested skills, for pvp/wvw purposes are: blink, decoy, mirror images, mass invis/moa and ether feast for healing. For PvE you can use whatever suits your fancy. I typically like having blink, feedback/decoy, mirror images.

Calliope.8675:

Torch is not really the best weapon to use with Shatter Mesmer. Most tend to use focus/sword/pistol for the offhand weapon. There are a few that use GS/Staff as a combination for their weapons. Suggested armors are either Berserker or Assassin. So, overall, you are on the right track. =) As for utilities, that is typically dependent upon the player. Suggested skills, for pvp/wvw purposes are: blink, decoy, mirror images, mass invis/moa and ether feast for healing. For PvE you can use whatever suits your fancy. I typically like having blink, feedback/decoy, mirror images.

Sorry Vin, I gotta disagree with you. I use torch for my shatter mesmer in pvp. Works Wonders. But this is coming from an spvp standpoint. I do not see why it won’t be as great in WvW tho.

Sw/T + GS Shatter spec.
Torch is just as good as pistol or focus for shatter builds.

Another thing on sw/t shatter – helseth actually used it in the WTS finals over the weekend. The iMage is fodder but the prestige AoE blind + stealth + dmg burst + long burn make it very powerful for mesmer using sword. More than anything, the extra stealth source helps survivability vs thieves in both PvP and WvW.

Well if helseth used it then we all must!!!! (Just some friendly sarcasm)

I think Calliope may have been writing from a PvE standpoint, yes(?). For leveling shatter, torch is kind of moot, and the choice between focus, pistol and sword off-hand is completely up to the player there. Do, however, keep a torch in your inventory if you’re trying to stealth past mobs. Focus grants swiftness and a high-damaging (though over a long period of time) phantasm. The pistol offers a rapid-fire ranged phantasm and a stun. And the sword off-hand offers the phantasm with the fastest recharge, and a high-damage counter.

@Ryoh: As for what you’ll be doing at level 80, it depends. Are you focusing on open world PvE, WvW, or SPvP. Shatter is really versatile among weapons sets. For example, the common shatter setup in SPvP right now is GS/Staff, or GS/Sword-Torch. However, I’ve been playing the past few days with Staff/Sword-Pistol and it’s a ton of fun, though that may be in part because it’s not a weapon set that people have seen there in a while — at least, I haven’t. But you are correct in focusing on power and ferocity/precision.

I think you’ll find out whatever style you want to focus on once you unlock more traits at level 60, or if you jump into the Heart of the Mists and toy around with the NPCs there.

PvP-speak aside, when I was leveling 2 years ago one of the main weapons I used was torch. That extra stealth really helped me as I was learning the ropes of mesmer. Back then I wasn’t even aware of the forums so I didn’t realize there were more efficient ways to level. Shatter isn’t the best way, but it’s decent and in the end doesn’t matter. If that’s what you want to play, it’s fine and you’ll get to 80 eventually.

Since that first leveling experience, something I’ve done though with my alts has been to learn each weapon set on each profession while leveling. I’d strongly suggest you do the same with mesmer. So every 10-15 levels, switch things up. If you’re focusing on shatter, go sw/t for awhile and then switch to GS/Staff etc. You can’t really go wrong with any of these combinations with shatter. Mix it up and learn the various advantages/disadvantages of each weapon. Then when you reach 80, what you decide to play in open world PvE is really what was the most fun for you during the process.

Well, since I seem to be unable to quote anyone. You’re free to disagree with me Stickers, but I still think torch is a horrible idea for shatter and I am speaking from the PvE perspective. I played for a year as strictly PvE before beginning to dabble in WvW, but even then I was only dealing with the PvE aspect of that. Anvil was ranked 24 out of 24 servers. No one was on to fight. I rarely encountered roamers. If I did see another player they were usually in a zerg, which I could evade if my back wasn’t to them.

Personally, I would never use it in WvW or PvP either. It seems like a waste when I use a weapon I like better and am more adept with.

Calliope.8675:

Well, since I seem to be unable to quote anyone. You’re free to disagree with me Stickers, but I still think torch is a horrible idea for shatter and I am speaking from the PvE perspective. I played for a year as strictly PvE before beginning to dabble in WvW, but even then I was only dealing with the PvE aspect of that. Anvil was ranked 24 out of 24 servers. No one was on to fight. I rarely encountered roamers. If I did see another player they were usually in a zerg, which I could evade if my back wasn’t to them.

Personally, I would never use it in WvW or PvP either. It seems like a waste when I use a weapon I like better and am more adept with.

I see. But honestly the one thing that is krap about torch is the phantasm, and that part i totally agree with you. I only use 5 for the fodder. But 4 is really invaluable for surviving and bursting. But focus is superior for the mobility.

And focus is waaay better if someone is capable of doing the pull warden leap blurred wrack combo.

I leveled up to about 40 before the first person I was getting mesmer advice from said I was doing it wrong. I was using sw/p+gs and he gave me a focus. I adapted my playstyle to a new weapon, but I did not like it at all.

So, with that said, there is no real right or wrong. Use what you like, but keep your options open and play with everything. It’s at least good to know what the other weapons “feel” like.

I’ve never actually used a focus with a shatter build. Wardens do a lot of damage, but not at the pace I like. But the swiftness, yes, it’s great for that.

I agree. In PvE the warden can be pretty nice, but in WvW or PvP I feel like it falls short since it can be evaded and avoided. As soon as any smart player sees it all they have to do is take a step away from it to avoid the majority of the attack (unless they are somehow trapped in the attack radius).

hey Ryoh, welcome to the wonderful world of shatter mesmer. If you havent seen bamf joe, he’s got some good videos that show how to set up shatters in combat in real time!

also, if you want to compare how different mesmer builds work, check out this video: http://www.tinyurl.com/howtomesmer

All of these videos are focused around PvP (roaming wvw and 1vx) and if you can line up your shatters on the fly in combat the way the purple wing and joe set up, PvE will be a breeze everywhere you go.

Tealots.6095:

I’ve never actually used a focus with a shatter build. Wardens do a lot of damage, but not at the pace I like. But the swiftness, yes, it’s great for that.

Focus isn’t used on a shatter mes for the phantasm, it’s used for the pull to set up big MW bursts and to pull people off ledges and such. A S/F shatter mes can much more easily set up shatters than a GS/Staff, but they are more vulnerable in that they are using a melee set.