Guild Wars 2

I have been playing the classic 20/0/0/20/30 glamour mesmer for a while.

Different than most glamour mesmers who go full rabid (prec/tough/cond), I use a mix between carrion (power/vit/cond) and rabid. The reason being is as follows:

1. The glamour build doesn’t benefit from the precision at all since it does not use sharper image

2. Maintain a fine ratio between armor and hp. Using the carrion will trade some toughness into vitality, I maintain a 1:8 armor/hp ratio, which I find pretty nice. (The hp seems to deal with the condition removal weakness of the build as well)

3. Trading the overkill of precision into power for more damage from auto attacks, staff 3 etc. (I sometimes use sword instead of torch for roaming, this gives a better overall damage output as well). I still maintain around 30% crit chance to trigger the fire sigil on my sword while assigning the rest to power.

The new ascended gear provides a very strong stat combination of: Toughness/Vit/Cond/(+ very little prec). Using the set will pretty much boost the defensive ability of the mesmer to max while maintaining the condition damage.

So here comes a very big dilemma:

Should I switch to this gear stat and go way tankier? This will leave me with almost no power and little not too useful precision, eventually making the sword pretty worthless of a weapon except the defensive and cc.

Anet decided to put out the new ascended gear stat just days after I traded my first month of laural for the rabid gear amulet, if I was to go for this entire set, my gear progression will be delayed for another 20 days. (My original plan was to get full rabid ascended and switch rabid armor pieces to carrion to maintain the 1:8 ratio)

I’m wondering if there is any glamour mesmers that are facing the same decision difficulties. If so, what are your insight?

(I am posting here searching for ppl who knows what I am talking about, cuz most mesmers I have met in game doesn’t have any idea what the carrion/rabid mix imply statwise, since they use full rabid, switching to the new ascended stat seems to be a no brainer choice, thus not facing this dilemma at all)

I’m in the same boat as you right now. I actually just bought my ascended rabid amulet and have since been trying to decide whether or not to kick myself. I also run a mix of rabid and carrion for my glamour setup.

The best conclusion I’ve come to so far though is that Rabid will be a better option if I ever swap between a full glamour confusion build and a standard staff condition build (w/ sharper images). This will be a really big deal if they ever implement a build swapping mechanic. Because glamour confusion is amazing in medium to large WvW groups. But a staff condition build is a LOT better for solo or small group roams.

Thank you so much Vyce. That was exactly the kind of insights I was looking for. <3
May the gw2 Jesus be with you.

I’m shooting for Con/Vit/Tuf for my glamour mes as well, and if eventually they release it for all slots, then I can basically full bunker it as well. It’s just going to take very long… but I think it’s worth it.