Guild Wars 2

So I started out on a new toon and rolled mesmer.
So I wanted to know if a glass cannon build would work with mes.
http://www.gw2build.com/builds/simulator.php#1.8.12.3.0.14.0.0.0.0.182.189.190.186.205.0.0.0.528.535.536.544.547.551.0.0.0.575.0.0.0.0.0.30.30.0.10.0

Traits
-Inflict 5 seconds of vulnerability when you interrupt a foe.
-Illusions inflict 15% more damage.
-Dazing a foe also applies 5 stacks of vulnerability (8 seconds).
-+50 power while wielding a greatsword. Reduces recharge of greatsword skills by 20%.
-Wastrel’s Punishment 5% increased damage to inactive foes.
-Mantras can be activated three times before needing to be channeled again.

-Gain 5 seconds of vigor on delivering ac ritical hit. This effect can only trigger once every 5 seconds.
-+50 precision while wielding a one-handed sword or a spear. Reduces the recharge of sword and spear skills by 20%.
-Illusions inflict bleeding on critical hits.
-Mantras recharge 20% faster.
-Your illusions cause 3 seconds of confusion when they are killed.
-4% more damage for each readied mantra.

-Grants retaliation to Phantasms.
-Phantasms have 20% more health.

Skills
-Mantra of Recovery
-Mantra of Resolve
-Mantra of Concentration
-Signet of Illusions

I don’t plan to WvW with this build besides for goofing off, this more of a PvE question.
How well will this preform in…
+Dgns
+General events
and for the heck of it,
+soloing a supply camp.

The mantras + extra mantra traits are fine for a glass cannon build, but you have some conflict of interests with the different phantasm traits.

-Phantasm’s do not gain the additional damage from Empowering Mantras (iirc), and you have several traits to buff their survivability and damage… except you only have one phantasm that does real damage, the iBeserker. The iSwordsman’s damage is pretty bad.
-If you want to be using any build with phantasms or clones in it, you want Illusionist’s Celerity. No ifs, ands, or buts.
-If you do follow the above point, move the points from Inspiration to Illusions and grab Precise Wrack. Then you could also get Mental Torment from the Domination line to compliment that. Your huge power and precision and crit damage will make it quite deadly, even if you don’t shatter very often.

It’s going to make you more into a shatter build than anything, where you want to shatter often. If that’s the case, I’d recommend getting Deceptive Evasion from the Dueling tree (dropping either Blade Training or mantra recharge for it; I’d personally drop the mantra recharge) and replacing a mantra with Mirror Images.

But honestly, if you don’t care how efficient/effective your build is, you can do fine in whatever setup you want. You can do a dungeon/events with whatever as long as you play smart. Soloing a supply camp will be out of your grasp without a really finetuned build, but you can do most anything else just fine.

if swordsmen sucks, what about the pistol duelist, is it any good?

Phantasmal Swordsman is fine for single target and is comparable to Phantasmal Duelist, if you discount Sharper Images. With Sharper Images, Phantasmal Duelist will deal more DPS due to Bleed stacks, regardless of your Malice.

iSwordsman does less direct damage than iDuelist, but at an equally faster attack rate. If you want to run a glass cannon build, you’ll probably want to be shattering your phantasms after first attack since it adds extra damage/evasion and their attack cooldowns are just a waste and leaves them open, frail as they are. So, in your case, an offhand pistol would probably do you best.

While I’m not an expert on mesmers, saying iSwordsman is bad is not true. Osicat uses it as well and it crits for up to 9k he said.

Oh, and iSwordsman attacks way faster than Duelist, I tested it on golems. Overall, the dmg is a bit lower but the speed makes up for that. Of course, if it doesn’t crit it’s a bit weak and it doesn’t benefit from Sharper Images that much. It’s a choice, both have their advantages. Look at the other skill too to make a choice.

vinceftw.5086:

While I’m not an expert on mesmers, saying iSwordsman is bad is not true. Osicat uses it as well and it crits for up to 9k he said.

Oh, and iSwordsman attacks way faster than Duelist, I tested it on golems. Overall, the dmg is a bit lower but the speed makes up for that. Of course, if it doesn’t crit it’s a bit weak and it doesn’t benefit from Sharper Images that much. It’s a choice, both have their advantages. Look at the other skill too to make a choice.

I guess I should have clarified, bad for his build. He’s building up a glass cannon power/prec/crit build, but the mantra traits he picked for buffed damage don’t apply to phantasms. There is nothing wrong with iSwordsman, no, but it doesn’t have the front-loaded, bursty damage that a glass cannon should have. It is sustained damage that would be better suited with a build that splashed some condition damage, as it would trigger Sharper Images more often.

Richard Nixon.6573:

vinceftw.5086:

While I’m not an expert on mesmers, saying iSwordsman is bad is not true. Osicat uses it as well and it crits for up to 9k he said.

Oh, and iSwordsman attacks way faster than Duelist, I tested it on golems. Overall, the dmg is a bit lower but the speed makes up for that. Of course, if it doesn’t crit it’s a bit weak and it doesn’t benefit from Sharper Images that much. It’s a choice, both have their advantages. Look at the other skill too to make a choice.

I guess I should have clarified, bad for his build. He’s building up a glass cannon power/prec/crit build, but the mantra traits he picked for buffed damage don’t apply to phantasms. There is nothing wrong with iSwordsman, no, but it doesn’t have the front-loaded, bursty damage that a glass cannon should have. It is sustained damage that would be better suited with a build that splashed some condition damage, as it would trigger Sharper Images more often.

Except that burst damage only matters in PVP, whereas the OP is more concerned with PVE.