Guild Wars 2

So I’ve been playing GW2 for a while and i finally decided to give Mesmer a try, it was always such an intriguing class but i couldn’t bring my self to play it because it looked painfully difficult for a complete beginner, the problem is that when i was browsing online for builds/guides i couldn’t find a decent one with GS & SW/Shield, i wish to use those specific weapons even if they were not tier 1 at the current meta, also most builds recommend different gear stats (wanderer/trailblazer/dire) which some needs to be crafted or are not available for purchase from TP.

any help/suggestions would be much appreciated (viable alternatives for gear stats/sigils) would be highly appreciated.

You can roam solo or in small scale with most of the popular PvP mesmer builds. Both power and condition can work.

As for larger scale combat, you can mostly do 3 things(all about support):
1. Boon share
Mostly through signet of inspiration and bountiful disillusionment. To do this well, you want to invest in boon duration in your gear
2. Distortion share
You can share 1sec distortion with inspiration traitline with an icd of 5 sec.
3. Glamour support
Portal, veil, null field, time warp all good support skills to use depending on the need.

The weapon choice can really be anything. You can use GS and Sword/shield. You can also use staff or focus if you like.

If you’re looking to roam with gs, I recommend going full glass i.e zerker gear or marauder gear if you want to be a bit tankier. Power Mesmer often relies on landing quick/instant burst with the gs2, mind wrack, gs3 combo rather than sustain pressure and I highly recommend you maximize that burst damage.

Statwise, I’d personally aim for 2700 power, 50-55% Crit chance and 220% Crit damage.

The best build is condi chronophantasma overall.
That being said, dps is way more fun.
Some people run core mesmer for PU, to be able to escape when 1v1 becomes 1v5, but it’s not nearly as effective in the actual fight. That build is domination 1,1,2 dueling 2,1,3 (can be switched for illusions 2,1,2) and chaos (3,1,2).
For chrono, you have to make a decision if you wanna go full glass, which is domination 1,1,2 illusions 2,1,2 chrono 2,3,3
Or have inspiration, the closest you’ll get to a viable build. If you pick this, drop gs for staff. Inspiration 1,2,3 Illusions 2,1,2 chrono 2,3,3

These are your options in terms of small scale. I’d recommend running this in big scale as well, since it’s way more fun to burst the backline and wreck havoc in there, than run as part of the melee train anyway. In big scale you have 0% control of the outcome of the fight. It’s mostly about numbers, like 90% and maybe 10% what the commander does. So why not have fun instead of trying to win the fight

I’d run marauder’s or berserker armor+ trinkets. Scholar runes, strength if you prefer. If you run core mes, you need traveler runes. Utilities: Decoy, blink, daze mantra/portal. Elite: grav well on chrono, mass invis on core. You can run mass invis on chrono too, but you lose much of your fighting potential.
Moa is best for single target, but people are gonna hate you.

Hope this helps, good luck learning this kittenty spec ^^