Guild Wars 2

Hello,

My wife recently started playing GW2, and decided to roll a Mesmer as her first character. She has 0 previous MMO experience. She is getting a hang of the basic controls and combat, but is totally clueless as to the various functions and skills of a Mesmer. I’ve been playing for awhile and am doing my best to help her out, but I have no experience with a mesmer either. (My main is lvl 80 warrior, and I have a 80 necro and a 35 ele.)

What are some things she needs to know as a mesmer? (currently lvl 5). It’s WAY too early for builds, gear, etc. Just the basic mechanics of the profession to help her on her way. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

lvling a mesmer is probably the most difficult one, she is gonna have a tough time

just saaying this, sry for not helping out:p

Wyrden.4713:

lvling a mesmer is probably the most difficult one, she is gonna have a tough time

just saaying this, sry for not helping out:p

No worries, I tried to dissuade her from mesmer, but she won’t budge :P She nots doing too bad leveling, and need A LOT of work on the controls. But is largely confused by the skills and what they do.

wich weapons is she using/ does she love most?

so far shes only using scepter/pistol. And scepter/focus. She hasn’t gotten anything else yet.

she should get all weapons asap and try them out, i personally loved staff and sword/sword the most

Scepter is a very tough weapon to start out on for someone that new. I’ll post more later but first step would be to get her some swords and a staff and maybe a gs as those are much more straight forward weapons for the class..

There’s a leveling guide in the sticky threads that she could watch. But here’s some pro tips.

• Tell her to take the time to read the tool tips of her skills. Might seem stupid but understanding what each skill does and remembering that goes a long way.

• She isnt going to have a lot of clone spam right now but tell her to play with her shatters. Again, read the tips and try them out.

• Damage is going to come from phantasms, which is why people will recommend certain weapons (Greatsword, offhand sword, pistol).

• Don’t bother telling her mesmer is a bad idea. It’s her first class and first mmo, she has no frame of reference to tell the leveling is bad/hard. As the saying goes, ignorance is bliss. She’ll be tougher for having leveled a mesmer than starting her mmo career out as a boring faceroll warrior.

@ross: Thanks for pointing out the sticky! GREAT information!! Also, good call on the last point. I was just thinking about that too.

Ross’ info is good.

I’d recommend GS/Staff. GS for the ranged attacks, strong phantasm, and knockback wave. Staff for Retreat and chaos armor. Leveling with those 2 will hopefully let her get a feel for the class in relative safety.

As for utilities, Mantras are pretty easy to use, and Decoy is a skill that rarely leaves many Mesmers’ bars.

If she sticks with it, she’ll find it very fulfilling. I always get more enjoyment from complex professions.

Ok now that i’m off work, yes, Tell her to read tool tips, its sounds stupid but Gw2 lacks a lot of Tutorial Functionality and steps and just assumes players will read/figure it out on their own.

Once she is comfortable with a basic skill rotation/ using skills when appropriate (Staff 2 to get out of the way of an attack) Have her start playing with Shatters. the F1-4 addition and extra layer are a bit overwhelming on top of just learning a weapon and combat.

I would also recommend that you, yourself, make a mesmer and play with her. Learn the class together and about the combos and play style. It may also aid some of the frustrations and help you understand why she can / cant seem to get some aspect of the game.

a quick run down of the weapons (i’d recommend you start off with GS and Sword/pistol or Sword. then move to staff, see what she likes)

Scepter, as stated before, is not a great tool for new gamers as many of its attacks/uses are situational or a bit convoluted.

Scepter Auto – does damage, generates a clone on hit with end of chain.

Scepter 2 – Block that applies Torment and summons a clone and deals damage. Or can be activated to send out a ranged attack that blinds.

Scepter 3 – deals 3 pulses of damage and applies 3 stacks of Confusion.

Pistol – decent offhand for damage and CC. not as bad for beginners.

Focus – probably not the most beginner friendly but a good tool once she picks up on the way combat flows and can use the pull/cripples/projectile blocking.

GS – very straight forward weapon it does damage, has clear visuals and is useful in most situations.

Staff – a bit wonky if you are not accustomed to the movement thanks to Staff 2 which teleports the player away from the targeted foe, it can be disorienting. staff 4 will also be somewhat useless to her until she understands cause and effect of the aura.

Sword – also somewhat straight forward and a good way to introduce chained skills via Sword 3 (iLeap → Swap) also a good tool to teach the importance of evades and dodges.

Swish.2463:

Ok now that i’m off work, yes, Tell her to read tool tips, its sounds stupid but Gw2 lacks a lot of Tutorial Functionality and steps and just assumes players will read/figure it out on their own.

This. Thats what she said!! And I tend to agree. Hmmm rolling up a Mesmer would be a good idea as well…Thanks!

sword/focus is your pve friend

Caelus.7139:

sword/focus is your pve friend

I’m sure it can be IF you know what you are doing. For someone who is still trying to grasp the targeting concept, and the active combat mechanisms it might prove more of a challenge. But GS and Sword MH would be a good place to start.

GW2 is my first MMORPG and mesmer is my first character. She could start from exploring the maps, doing some heart missions with dynamic events to understand it.

Believe it or not when me and my friend started this game, and he started with warrior and I tried mesmer. We spent about the same time in game but I actually leveled up faster than him lol. If you think leveling is slow try mapping beginner maps and racial cities. Should boost your wife’s level sufficient enough to go through plenty of personal stories. Before your wife hit dungeons the best way to level up will be in locations that include both heart mission and dynamic events. For example Morgan’s spiral, Grawlenfjord.

pdavis.8031:

Caelus.7139:

sword/focus is your pve friend

I’m sure it can be IF you know what you are doing. For someone who is still trying to grasp the targeting concept, and the active combat mechanisms it might prove more of a challenge. But GS and Sword MH would be a good place to start.

Learning the focus combo early will be good for her experience. The sequence goes 4-5-4(while casting 5)-3-3-2.

4=Temporal Curtain. This skill when you activate it twice allows you to pull enemies towards it. You would usually put this beside a wall and on an angle that would be able to group mobs up.

5=Illusionary Warden. Basically you cast this and right after you start casting press 4 right away to activate Temporal Curtain pull.

3=Illusionary Leap, it sends an illusion to your enemy — make sure you’re in range, most of the time I’d stick close to the enemy so it doesn’t fail. Activate it twice so you can do Swap that immobilizes AoE contact which lets you pin down mobs you’ve pulled.

2=Blurred Frenzy. One of our best skills, it lets you deal damage while being invulnerable to damage.

Tried searching for a vid of this combo but to no avail so I could only describe it as best as I could.

I never use that combo and don’t see the point in her pulling her hair out trying to get the timing right. You can honestly just drop a warden, roll in with sword and just destroy whatever is in front of you.

maha.7902:

I never use that combo and don’t see the point in her pulling her hair out trying to get the timing right. You can honestly just drop a warden, roll in with sword and just destroy whatever is in front of you.

It’s a combo that’s mainly used for PvP. As such…it’s way overkill to try and figure it out as a new player. Just yank them against a wall with curtain and unload your aoes. Straightforward and effective.

good players wll always use a dodge on ur leap, but most ppl wont expect the bit delayed focus 4 and will waste a dodge right away, then get pulled with iwarden on top, then u can leap when they r cced and pin them down

Wyrden.4713:

good players wll always use a dodge on ur leap, but most ppl wont expect the bit delayed focus 4 and will waste a dodge right away, then get pulled with iwarden on top, then u can leap when they r cced and pin them down

This whole thread is giving advice to a person that’s never played a single mmo before. Do you really think that PvP specific advice is going to help?

Answer: It won’t. It’s just going to be confusing. Keep it simple, keep it PvE, and keep it general.

Fay.2357:

Wyrden.4713:

good players wll always use a dodge on ur leap, but most ppl wont expect the bit delayed focus 4 and will waste a dodge right away, then get pulled with iwarden on top, then u can leap when they r cced and pin them down

This whole thread is giving advice to a person that’s never played a single mmo before. Do you really think that PvP specific advice is going to help?

Answer: It won’t. It’s just going to be confusing. Keep it simple, keep it PvE, and keep it general.

ops sry, my fault, mistook threads

as an after thought before i go to bed,

Mesmer Utilities are all very situational.

You may want to look at them yourself to help explain what does what and how.

The easiest to understand would probably be the Mantras (not terribly useful all the time but good for learning about double cast spells ie, the charge then use + use + cool down) and they pretty much state exactly what they do.

After that is Signet of Inspiration for learning about Boons and Passive/Active. she can pass good boons (when she learns what they are) to you and probably get warm fuzzies when it helps.

Blink / Decoy are a bit more advanced but also easy to get used to.

Veil / Null Field / Portal etc.. a bit harder to understand but starting with the others makes them easier to use. Portal can be fun to mess around with tho.

Mesmers are filled with short burst effects and skills that need timing at higher levels of play to be really effective. Hopefully by about level 60 or 80 she’ll have picked up the basics and can start refining things to get the most out of the class. then she can focus on learning the combos posted above ^.

A good place to start with that, that she may pick up on without much effort is Sword 3 → Sword 3 (while clone is on target) to Swap and then Sword 2 on the Immobilized foe.

Thats all i can offer.

GL dont forget to have fun and laugh at stupid things that happen.

All this said, as a married man myself my biggest piece of advice I can give is..

• Offer help but only when she wants it. Don’t offer help if she doesn’t want it. If you think she wants help don’t suggest anything. Unless she does actually want you to suggest something in which case why haven’t you already. Whatever you do say, she’s not a moron, she knows already, or if she doesn’t know she can figure it out. At the point she can’t figure it out she’ll let you know, and you should explain the thing. But don’t go into to much detail because again, she’s not a moron. Of course when she doesnt understand what you’re saying it’s because you didn’t explain it well enough. USE MORE GOD kitten DETAIL!

maha.7902:

I never use that combo and don’t see the point in her pulling her hair out trying to get the timing right. You can honestly just drop a warden, roll in with sword and just destroy whatever is in front of you.

Err did I order her to learn it? I only gave her a good tutorial at the top of my head. If she doesn’t get it right away no one’s gonna shout at her and tell her she’s bad. If she doesn’t wanna do it I won’t tell her she’s bad neither. I think I’ve contributed more than you saying “just drop curtain and spam 11111”.

It’s good to learn for PvE because it’s the best way for mesmers to clear mobs. The only good instant AoE’s we have for PvE are mind wrack, Illusionary Berserker (Greatsword), and these are limited since you can’t directly control the range. With the focus combo you can gather them in almost one cell and unleash these AoE’s effectively.

Caelus.7139:

maha.7902:

I never use that combo and don’t see the point in her pulling her hair out trying to get the timing right. You can honestly just drop a warden, roll in with sword and just destroy whatever is in front of you.

Err did I order her to learn it? I only gave her a good tutorial at the top of my head. If she doesn’t get it right away no one’s gonna shout at her and tell her she’s bad. If she doesn’t wanna do it I won’t tell her she’s bad neither. I think I’ve contributed more than you saying “just drop curtain and spam 11111”.

It’s good to learn for PvE because it’s the best way for mesmers to clear mobs. The only good instant AoE’s we have for PvE are mind wrack, Illusionary Berserker (Greatsword), and these are limited since you can’t directly control the range. With the focus combo you can gather them in almost one cell and unleash these AoE’s effectively.

Yes, but that particularly timed focus combo is needlessly complex for PvE, particularly for a very new player. Mobs are stupid, why bother with that much effort? All you have to do is pull them into a wall then do some aoeing. You don’t need that split-second warden cast timing to make this work just fine.

Generally speaking for PVE and Mesmer, spam your wardens. I would definitely use Greatsword as one of your weapons which lets you engage at distance and has a very direct damaging warden summon.

Mesmers are generally weak so she’ll be relying on her utilities to mitigate damage. This is a general rule of all classes but learning when to correctly time dodges is key. Learn when to use your heal skills (i.e. the main mesmer heal skill, Ether Feast, works better the more illusions/wardens you have casted, take advantage of this and time it correctly.

These tips are just basic but should start her on her way. As previously mentioned, Mesmers aren’t the easiest to level in PVE.

Things really help if you look closer into your build, the trait setup and the synergies that lie within them.

Fay.2357:

Caelus.7139:

maha.7902:

I never use that combo and don’t see the point in her pulling her hair out trying to get the timing right. You can honestly just drop a warden, roll in with sword and just destroy whatever is in front of you.

Err did I order her to learn it? I only gave her a good tutorial at the top of my head. If she doesn’t get it right away no one’s gonna shout at her and tell her she’s bad. If she doesn’t wanna do it I won’t tell her she’s bad neither. I think I’ve contributed more than you saying “just drop curtain and spam 11111”.

It’s good to learn for PvE because it’s the best way for mesmers to clear mobs. The only good instant AoE’s we have for PvE are mind wrack, Illusionary Berserker (Greatsword), and these are limited since you can’t directly control the range. With the focus combo you can gather them in almost one cell and unleash these AoE’s effectively.

Yes, but that particularly timed focus combo is needlessly complex for PvE, particularly for a very new player. Mobs are stupid, why bother with that much effort? All you have to do is pull them into a wall then do some aoeing. You don’t need that split-second warden cast timing to make this work just fine.

On the upside, iWarden is much more forgiving with the curtain pull thanks to the new chase mechanic. If you mess up, iWarden will spawn and run to the target. But yes, it doesnt matter how you do it in PvE, just stack em and burn em.

quite simple…

dodge dodge duelist pistol 5 illusionary leap switch to staff dodge chaos shield chaos storm 123 stealth teleport hide 1111111 change pop duelist pop illusionary leap stun them with signet mindwrack use illusionary leap blurred frenzy gf have fun good luck being prevented from doing this -.- so cheese

up up down down left right left right b a start

Honestly, there is some good advice in here, even if some of it is (imo) more complex than necessary at this stage. A level 5 Mesmer completely new to MMORPGs will eventually be using the combos mentioned above, so file them away for a later date OP. But for now, getting familiar with weapon & utility skills, dodging, and understanding how clones/phantasms work are her most important focus points.

Phantasms deal damage (and quite a lot)
Clones deal no damage, but do inflict conditions
Both contribute to the 3 illusion max limit
Both can be shattered

I recommend you/she read(s) the illusion wiki page to become more familiar with the nuances of them.

Very general advice here.

Try all the weapons. You might hate some of them. Try some of them again later when your traits and skills improve. I hated greatsword until I got to 80 but it’s by far my favorite weapon now.

You’re mostly ranged, but try some melee. Sword/Sword, for example. The damage output is decent. Also, Sword has a block and an evade. When I first started GW2, I’d dodge, but I really wouldn’t use dodge to evade, just to gain some distance between myself and attacks preemptively. Avoiding damage while standing in place gets you in the habit of thinking of your dodges as active mitigation rather than just quick movement. Also get in the habit of circle-strafe around mobs at melee range.

Get in the habit of trying to keep your clones and phantasms going. Usually you want to be spawning phantasms whenever they’re off cooldown.

Experiment with spreading your illusions around or putting them all on one target.

Try the Feedback skill. It’s a great way to protect yourself from ranged guys while doing pretty good damage. If you like reflection a lot, you can get more later on through traits.

If you like the concept and flow of the class but it feels weak or slow, stick with it — mesmer improves drastically ones you get access to major traits (past level 60): better damage, lower cooldowns, more clones, reflection, much better boon and condition generation, &c. I mean, every class is a bit like that, but it’s really, really notable with mesmers . (Of course, if you don’t like the gameplay at all, try another class.)

~

As far as “ins and outs,” stuff that’s maybe not very clear based on just reading the abilities and experimenting for a few minutes…

As stated by other posters, phantasms are damage sources, clones are distractions and shatter fodder. The one exception here is that clones spread conditions if their attack skill has ‘em (like with the staff). Note that shattering doesn’t count as “clone death,” but having your clone pop because you went over your 3-illusion limit does.

If you go over your 3-illusion limit, one of your old illusions will die. The game kills clones before Phantasms. So if I have two Illusionary Warlocks and a clone, and I use Phase Retreat (which makes a clone), it’ll pop the old clone and make the new one where I Phase Retreated. It always makes the new illusion, though: so if I had three Warlocks I’d lose one of the Warlocks to make room for my new clone.

There’s generally three big ways people make mesmers: phantasm, shatter, and conditions.

• Phantasm mesmers set up phantasms (e.g. Illusionary Swordsman, Illusionary Berserker, Illusionary Duelist) for sustained damage output. Nearly every PvE build leans heavily on phantasms; you can use them to good effect in PvP as well.
• Shattering illusions gives you big burst damage, and you can spec for other stuff like boon-stripping. Shattering is mainly a PvP style.
• Condition mesmers attack using condition damage. The main benefit of this style is durability (since you can use tanky Dire or Dire+Rabid gear) and huge utility from all your clones. Most people will say this kind of spec doesn’t play well with others, though.
  Of course, these kinda blend together in play. Like phantasm mesmers might still shatter for the interrupt or a last hit of damage. It’s just a matter of your overall build and what “Plan A” is.

Mesmers reflect stuff. A lot, if you have traited Focus. It’s a great way to get damage on mobs. Some mobs (particularly in dungeons) have unreflectable attacks, though. Some (all? I forget) of these will go through a traited Warden but are still absorbed by an untrained one.

You can make illusions without breaking stealth (unless it’s part of an attack, like Mirror Blade).

My few basic advises for leveling a Mesmer:

• buy and consume some food that increases vitality. At least until lvl 30 where the first minor trait is available. Toughness is also important, but especially against groups of mobs that also do condition damage more vitality will help more than toughness.

• keep moving/circling/kiting/dodging. Even if it is just a normal mob. It will get better later on, but in early levels not getting hits and keeping the mob(s) out of range and busy with chasing will contribute the most to survivability.

• in general the aggro priority of mobs is like this: Phantasm > Mesmer > Clone. In early levels and without the traits the phantasms will have very long cooldowns and be destroyed within a second. Better rely on the more durable (compaired to phants) clones and kiting. Staff clones all will apply the staff auto-attack conditions additionally. Also mind that Phase Retreat clones (Staff skill #2) will run around corners as long as the mob is targeted, with no need to be in line of sight. This can be used to “clone-pull” and seperate mobs from others.

• get Signet of Inspiration asap to profit from the boons in fight and especially swiftness out of combat. To ease fights and to get familiar with illusions mechanics also get Mirror Images to immediately have two clones available. Later or if you do not take Inspiration IV take at least Mantra of Resolve to have a condition cleansing available.

• use Phase Retreat to create a clone-shield when a mob attacks you. If you do not move but stay directly behind the clone, the hostile attack will hit and most likely destroy the clone, but you save endurance for the next dodge. Note that you can fire through illusions, but mobs cannot fire through them (as long it’s not an AoE attack).

Lanhelin.3480:

• get Signet of Inspiration asap to profit from the boons in fight and especially swiftness out of combat.

Don’t do this. Signet of inspiration is completely worthless in all forms unless you intend on actually using the active to share boons.

Instead of Signet of Inspiration, take Signet of Illusions. This allows your phantasms (and clones) to have significantly more health and survive longer.

Also, remember that some of our weapons, scepter, sword and aforementioned focus in particular have skills that can be activated twice.

Sword 3- Press once for an illusion, press twice for a swap that immobilizes.

Sword 4 – Press once for a block, press twice for a daze projectile

Scepter 2 – Press once for a block, press twice for a blind

Focus 4- activate for a skill area that gives you swiftness, activate a second time to trigger a pull

Just thought this would help because I only knew about the second activation for scepter and sword when I was already at level 60 lol ._.

ASP.8093:

If you go over your 3-illusion limit, one of your old illusions will die. The game kills clones before Phantasms. So if I have two Illusionary Warlocks and a clone, and I use Phase Retreat (which makes a clone), it’ll pop the old clone and make the new one where I Phase Retreated. It always makes the new illusion, though: so if I had three Warlocks I’d lose one of the Warlocks to make room for my new clone.

Highlighting this paragraph, because it’s very important and not described anywhere but with experience.

I leveled up my mes using Kai’s lazy guide, GS + Sw/F isn’t a bad combo to start with.

That said, I think the best way is to let her find her own way and hop in when she’s having trouble to offer suggestions. Hopefully, she will find mesmers as fun as the rest of us do!

Ross Biddle.2367:

All this said, as a married man myself my biggest piece of advice I can give is..

• Offer help but only when she wants it. Don’t offer help if she doesn’t want it. If you think she wants help don’t suggest anything. Unless she does actually want you to suggest something in which case why haven’t you already. Whatever you do say, she’s not a moron, she knows already, or if she doesn’t know she can figure it out. At the point she can’t figure it out she’ll let you know, and you should explain the thing. But don’t go into to much detail because again, she’s not a moron. Of course when she doesnt understand what you’re saying it’s because you didn’t explain it well enough. USE MORE GOD kitten DETAIL!

Wise words. Sounds like everyday life :P

Thanks for all the input. However I would like to say that leveling isn’t really much of an issue. We got her to level 5 in just a few hours. I pointed out the sticky and this thread for some helpful tips, and there has been a lot of those.

I think right now, the weapon sets and getting more comfortable with basic combat will be the best way to go. Then we can start working on various combos and skills and utilities, etc. But I agree that learning the phantasms and clones will be important, and that might be the next step.

pdavis.8031:

Thanks for all the input. However I would like to say that leveling isn’t really much of an issue. We got her to level 5 in just a few hours. I pointed out the sticky and this thread for some helpful tips, and there has been a lot of those.

I think right now, the weapon sets and getting more comfortable with basic combat will be the best way to go. Then we can start working on various combos and skills and utilities, etc. But I agree that learning the phantasms and clones will be important, and that might be the next step.

Honestly, I wouldn’t even worry about combos and such, she’ll sorta figure those out as you go. The paragraph I highlighted about how illusions replace each other is one unintuitive thing that you should mention. The other thing you should mention is that clones aren’t supposed to do damage, so don’t worry when they’re just doing 0 and 1 on their attacks.

Other than that, just let her figure it out.

Lots of good info here. I will just add a couple of points.
- I would get rid of scepter as early as possible. It’s a confusing weapon. (I use it all the time now, but I think it’s bad for beginners.

- I would start with greatsword. Put the skill one on auto-attack. Start by casting the phantasm (Illusionary Berserker). Then use Mirror Blade. When the mob gets close, use Illusionary Wave to push it away. Those skills are all pretty straightforward.

- I suggest avoiding fights with multiple opponents as much as possible to start. For sure, watching my friend on warrior made me envious early on. Mesmer is not great at multiple mobs.

Have fun and good luck!

Personally I’d suggest Staff and Sword/Torch to start. These will keep you alive and you can take anything down going back and forth between range and melee favoring whatever your enemy is bad at, use The Prestige to lose aggro for her for a few seconds if she gets low and send them your way.

Get Blink and Decoy to increase survivability. Get Mantra of Distration to start learning to watch enemies for when they are readying an attack so you can interrupt or dodge(the difference between a good player and dead frustrated one is learning to dodge). Get Mirror Images to learn how to best use your shatter skills.

I think honestly we have the most fun of a class, doing ridiculous stuff and getting away with it… but it’s a really rough start until you get some good trait. Read other people’s builds to see what traits you want to aim for after you get some practice with everything.

eldenbri.1059:

- I suggest avoiding fights with multiple opponents as much as possible to start. For sure, watching my friend on warrior made me envious early on. Mesmer is not great at multiple mobs.

It’s the best way to really learn some of the mechanics, though. Controlling a single critter is pretty boring. I think it’s easier to get used to snaring multiple enemies with your attacks pretty early in the game; it’ll make you a better player later.

Fay.2357:

Lanhelin.3480:

• get Signet of Inspiration asap to profit from the boons in fight and especially swiftness out of combat.

Don’t do this. Signet of inspiration is completely worthless in all forms unless you intend on actually using the active to share boons.

Depending. A clone/phant dying from two hits instead of one is great, but a Mesmer completely avoiding a hit by aegis or getting additional healing or getting endurance filled up by vigor or being able to kite/run away with swiftness is greater. Especially for unexperienced players completely new to the world, its mechanics and encounters. Even in higher levels this signet often saved my life or gave me a few more seconds to compensate a failure. It’s absolutely worth it, imho.

Lanhelin.3480:

Fay.2357:

Lanhelin.3480:

• get Signet of Inspiration asap to profit from the boons in fight and especially swiftness out of combat.

Don’t do this. Signet of inspiration is completely worthless in all forms unless you intend on actually using the active to share boons.

Depending. A clone/phant dying from two hits instead of one is great, but a Mesmer completely avoiding a hit by aegis or getting additional healing or getting endurance filled up by vigor or being able to kite/run away with swiftness is greater. Especially for unexperienced players completely new to the world, its mechanics and encounters. Even in higher levels this signet often saved my life or gave me a few more seconds to compensate a failure. It’s absolutely worth it, imho.

It’s simply too random. It gives 1 of 7 or 8 boons randomly every 10 seconds. So sure, once every 15 minutes you might get aegis when you need it, and you’ll on average get swiftness for 20s once every minute or so. Worth taking up a utility slot for? No. Not even close.

Ultimately, if that random aegis proc is saving your life, you’ve made mistakes that let you get to that point in the first place, and you could have avoided that with better utility choices.

Fay.2357:

Lanhelin.3480:

Fay.2357:

Lanhelin.3480:

• get Signet of Inspiration asap to profit from the boons in fight and especially swiftness out of combat.

Don’t do this. Signet of inspiration is completely worthless in all forms unless you intend on actually using the active to share boons.

Depending. A clone/phant dying from two hits instead of one is great, but a Mesmer completely avoiding a hit by aegis or getting additional healing or getting endurance filled up by vigor or being able to kite/run away with swiftness is greater. Especially for unexperienced players completely new to the world, its mechanics and encounters. Even in higher levels this signet often saved my life or gave me a few more seconds to compensate a failure. It’s absolutely worth it, imho.

It’s simply too random. It gives 1 of 7 or 8 boons randomly every 10 seconds. So sure, once every 15 minutes you might get aegis when you need it, and you’ll on average get swiftness for 20s once every minute or so. Worth taking up a utility slot for? No. Not even close.

Ultimately, if that random aegis proc is saving your life, you’ve made mistakes that let you get to that point in the first place, and you could have avoided that with better utility choices.

I play a lot with this signet and aegis procs about once a minute. If you prefer longer lasting illusions it’s up to you, I prefer the boons, because for me it always was and is better to make the Mesmer more survivable who can recast illusions, than having more durable illusions but a less durable Mesmer and that’s why I recommended the signet. Is it worth a utility slot? Yes, it is. But if you prefer another one over it, feel free to swap it. It’s not a must, it just eases things.