Guild Wars 2

I like Mesmer as a class but am having a lot of trouble leveling. I imagine the class would be fun in larger groups or PvP where having a lot of clones running around and having group buffs and combos make a difference.

But, I’m really just solo leveling and the monster AI doesn’t seem to care as much about these things. Right now I have been using Staff and Sword/Pistol. Staff seems good for defense, sword and pistol seem good for offense. I can kill single targets with little problem but when are you ever fighting a single target? As soon as the 1st target dies, don’t all the clones and phantasms disappear? Or am I getting it wrong, it tends to get chaotic.

As far as traits, I’m clueless, mine were all over the place and I just reset them. Right now it just comes down to blowing as many phantasms and illusions and hoping Blurred Frenzy goes off correctly and hits.

Anyway, are there any up to date guides out there that can help? GW2 is a bit difficult with many viable builds instead of class roles, but most of the things I see are from beta “Oh hey look there’s a class called Mesmer and it uses illusions of itself to damage foes” and such. Or they are from very early on in the game, and I get the impression the recent patches have changed things? I was not here to see the previous stuff.

Anyway, the tldr version is…. I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong trying to solo level PvE. Is there a good versus bad way to do things? Other classes I’ve tried seem to have less trouble…. Mesmer is still the most fun, when I know what’s going on.

for solo pve I was having success with a GS/ Sword Pistol build

I put my first 10 points into precision and domination for damge and if your particularly agile Iberzeker plus GS 5 is enough to keep most mobs off you… if not wear some toughness gear….

it really helps.

I generally started with pistol 4 then sword 3 when in range then teleport to target with sword 3… use sword 2… then I usually shatter or switch weapons…

Switching is key to playing a mesmer you must switch weapons often. make use of your shatters make use of dodges you should have about 30 % crit leveling up in the early game and this will give you nearly constant vigor make use of it by dodgeing often…

it takes some time..
the mesmer doesnt start becoming the amazing class it is until about 40

After level 20 because I had nothing better to do I start traiting for toughness buit I was doing alright with out it…

I will also point out staff is perfectly viable with pretty much the same trait points
but use staff smart… Stand inside staff 5 then make a clone for a combo finishing free chaos armor… really helps your survivability especially against packs when you can get a free chaos armor as well as t he other buffs staff 5 will give you.

Find that happy medium the closer you are to the target the faster you and your clones staff bounces will return to you and grant boons. Staff IMO does fine at range but does better at a mid to short range

This feedback also interests me. I originally chose Mesmer due to its rather unique play-style (for PvP/WvW) as compared to what I’m used to. But I’m currently Lvl18 and I’m finding the process of leveling through PvE quite monotonous and unexciting. The class just doesn’t seem to be very interesting to play against AI. I really just want to play WvW.

I was a little disappointed that there was no way to level through sPvP. A lot of fun in that regard.

Out of all the weapons, Staff is certainly my favourite, but it is quite slow, even with me stacking Condition Damage. Never considered heading towards Toughness. Something to try out I suppose.

I feel Staff is always good for leveling whereas GS needs the right build and gear to be really good. It’s also not as convenient while you level due to wanting to be max range, which isn’t always possible. I would suggest 1h Sword and Focus as secondary weapon set. Not only will you get around faster, the Focus Phantasm does the most dmg of all our Phantasms and does it AoE, meaning once the target you cast the Phantasm on dies, it will have damaged surrounding targets already and you can finish them off with your Sword. I also strongly recommend the + Illusion health Signet and Decoy as utilities, which should make your life a lot easier.

My guide on PvE should help you even though it is mainly written for lvl80 farming. Just switch Duelling: Desperate Decoy with Sword Training and finish mobs off, when they get into melee range.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Lazy-Kai-s-guide-to-PvE/first#post874515

Conditions will let you kill things that are up to 10 levels higher than you during level up. Power/precision builds are great DPS, but you can’t really get good power/precision until 65+ and even then, your DPS will suffer drastically starting about 5 levels higher than you.

I didn’t really know any of that when I was leveling. I just used conditions back then because it seemed like mesmer was rather good at them (they’re not really, but they’re not too bad). Staff with condition gear is what carried me to 80.

I haven’t touched staff since then, though. Berserker with GS is so much higher DPS. Or it was until the bug. Now I play alts and hope they fix the mesmer bugs before I run out of alts to toy with.