New to Mesmer GS/Staff Viable?
GS/Staff is what i use in pvp and its pretty rowdy. I use the staff when i need to be defensive. I assume if you wanted to primarily use the staff you would want some sort of condition based build, if you primarily want to use the GS you want to go clone/shatter
I love GS/Staff, I usually run rampagers (main stat is crit) gear and at least 20 points in dueling for the 15 point trait sharper images (illusions inflict bleeding on crit) and the 20 point trait deceptive evasion (clone on dodge). The GS clones are great for stacking bleeds because each auto attack hits three times meaning they have more chances to crit. The staff, as tqhx said is an awesome defensive weapon and the clones can stack bleeds from criting and their normal auto attack.
My build I’m trying out right now is 0/20/25/0/25 and I’m having a lot of fun with it. If i were you I’d mess around with your traits and play some matches until you find something that suits how you like to play.
Have fun!
I play GS/Staff as a shatter build and it works wonderfully. Shatters benefit primarily from power but also with conditions that they can apply so you can do very well with those weapon sets.
Clone on dodge gives you more clones for shattering.
Would you mind linking your builds?
30/20/0/0/20 or sometimes i go 20/0/0/30/20. I like both specs quite a bit, but the first is way more bursty, and the second is more tanky. For my additional spells i use decoy, mirror images, and blink. Special is Moa in sPvP, Mass Invis in WvW or Time Warp which i use on seiges and golems.
Important skills for me are deceptive evasion, 20% crit and 10% damage on mind wrack, and crippling dissipation. Sometimes i swap the others around but those are pretty much always static
(edited by tqhx.2190)
I used it in tpvp and it is serviceable.
Base for build is:
20 precision line – clone on dodge
10 toughness line – condition on clone death
20 illusions line – take the extra bounce trait
Rampagers or rabid
Earth sigil for GS, earth or corruption for staff.
Its fun thematically as its the lose/lose situation.
Try to keep 3 clones up to max bleed stacks. Shatter when you can readily replace.
Mine is 10 in power for a damage boost to mind wrack (shatter damage)
20 in precision to give phantasm fury and also clone on dodge
20 in toughness to give condition on clone death and also staff recharge 20% faster and plus 50 toughness when holding a staff
20 in illusions for 10% crit chance on mind wrack (again for shatters) and the extra bounce (which is good for both GS and Staff)
I suggest you run with decoy and or mirror images as these will provide more clones for shatters of a variety of sorts and keep your enemy occupied.
Because phantasms are squishy (especially the greatsword one) I usually let him get his first hit in and then whenever ready to shatter I shatter.
Nice thing about condition on death is that it counts as over writing one of your clones as death and a condition is given. This can occur with GS quite often. Since your clones are fairly squishy too if they get killed before they lay down a condition then that too gives off a condition.
I recommend Sigil of Fire on your GS as it will trigger fairly often which will give both AoE damage as well as a nice kick in your damage in general. On the staff I would recommend sigil of energy which will allow more dodges which will in turn give you more clones.
I highly suggest this build it’s very fun.
This has got me interested. As I enjoy both weapons a great deal. Never been a fan of sword/X weapon sets with exception to focus…. never gets old pulling people off walls/bridges.
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Thanks for all the Feedback! Its much appreciated!
Mine is 20/20/0/0/30. Using GS and staff to shatter. 20 in Precision gives you deceptive evasion which is awesome for making clones.
As someone mentioned earlier, the staff is great defensively, and greatsword is great offensively. It’s a versatile set up that lets you adapt very well to different types of situations. One thing that took me a bit to learn was that the greatsword is actually a better mid-range than long range weapon. Most of the time you will not be sitting back using auto attack. With illusionary elasticity (extra bounce), you’ll want to be close enough to get the bounce (for the extra bounces and might stacks). The burst damage from this is really nice.
For staff, keep yourself mid – close range. The strength of the staff is taking advantage of the winds of chaos bounces and when you throw down chaos storm, place it so that both you and your enemy is inside the circle. This gives you the best advantage to receiving the boons and will unlock the true strength of the staff. You’d be surprised how quickly the damage over time from staff close range (just out of melee range) is with the bounces.
Most people don’t use it because it doesn’t seem to sync well. Staff does ludicrous amounts of condition damage while GS has absolutely no damaging conditions on it whatsoever. GS does wonderfully with crit/damage builds because of it’s crit-soaked auto-attack and all over power. But staff’s mindbendingly slow auto attack and inability to stack on-crit traits or sigils with any of it’s abilities is downright painful. That’s not to say it’s not usable. As most people are demonstrating here, ignoring one or the other’s strengths and using the base utilities on the weapons still works. Personally, I’d just rather find 2 weapons that seems to fit the same build rather than fight the system like that.
You laugh because you think I’m joking. I laugh because I’m not.
Most people don’t use it because it doesn’t seem to sync well. Staff does ludicrous amounts of condition damage while GS has absolutely no damaging conditions on it whatsoever. GS does wonderfully with crit/damage builds because of it’s crit-soaked auto-attack and all over power. But staff’s mindbendingly slow auto attack and inability to stack on-crit traits or sigils with any of it’s abilities is downright painful. That’s not to say it’s not usable. As most people are demonstrating here, ignoring one or the other’s strengths and using the base utilities on the weapons still works. Personally, I’d just rather find 2 weapons that seems to fit the same build rather than fight the system like that.
This pretty well hit the nail on the head.
One plays on the other’s weaknesses which means you cannot specialize into one without neglecting the other. Greatsword and Staff are great weapons to use, they just mix like oil and water. I really would recommend using alternative combinations and specializing into condition damage or crit.
I’m kind of against the “condition on death” trait in a shatter build, because shattering will NOT trigger this effect, only overwriting a clone with another one and opponents dying or killing a clone will trigger it.
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Debilitating_Dissipation
The fact is that Staff is used either to get boons, give conditions or spam clones, damage is low so you basically use it for that, you’d mostly like, upgrade illusion/chaos/inspiration traits for it(or domination for condition duration).
Gratsword instead has only vulnerability on 2nd skill and cripple from berserker, does nice amount of damage with prec/critdmg too, for that you’d like stuff like dueling/domination/illusion(for shatter spec).
Imo making a shatter build with these weapons is kind of a waste: you are always ranged and it’s painful to shatter an userful phantasm like berserker.
I’d suggest you instead to use something like 20/20/20/10/0 or 20/15/20/15/0 with signet of illusion(however don’t put conditions into your stats, it’s kind of waste, roll just for vitality/power/precision/toughness[→Toughness just makes clones harder to kill so it’s optional]), more with a phantasm build theme, because berserker can actually deal some great damage over time and iWarlock scales with well with power too.
Said that, shatter builds sinergyze better with the main sword better because you’re melee and have a 2s distorsion combo and immobilize, which is pretty crazy for shattering imo.
If this were WvW, you could do GS and then if you’re in a pinch swap to Staff for quick-clone shatters, but even that is still meh.
You can run it, but as people above have stated, you’re kittening yourself slightly, although it is fun.
I will say they’re pretty horrible combo if you’re building glass cannon. You simply can’t maximize your damage with those two.
However, as far as utility goes, I am hard pressed to find a better combination. I run GS/Staff for a while too, then realized how horrible it looks, and I switched to GS/DWsword.
Main GS / Off Hand Staff -Phanta build
Full Berserker Gear
(edited by Cempa.3645)
I agree GS/Staff is not optimized as a glass cannon, but the OP’s question was if it is viable. My opinion is that it is. You’re just more of a balanced build with it than glass cannon. But OP, it sounds like you’re enjoying GS/Staff, so I say go with whatever build you’re having fun with. I personally enjoy the play style of GS/Staff as I feel I can mix it up more.
I’m kind of against the “condition on death” trait in a shatter build, because shattering will NOT trigger this effect, only overwriting a clone with another one and opponents dying or killing a clone will trigger it.
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Debilitating_Dissipation
Yes I understand what you are saying however here are my points of interest on the synergy of this with shattering.
1. Overwrites happy fairly frequently when you can throw out so many clones (especially when dodging and creating a clone). Every time you overwrite you are getting boosts of damage and effects.
2. Often times when I throw out the first clone (using mirror sword on the GS) this clone can die fairly quickly which means that it will then give a burst of damage by issuing some condition.
3. Phantasms in my build are basically crafted out of tissue paper and they too can get killed quickly (especially the one from the GS).
4. The main synergy I have is when I am fighting bunches of mobs. I dance and dodge and move around to try to get them circled around. When this happens and when I am fighting bunches of mobs. The main mob I am taking down can die before I have done the next shatter. This means all the clones and phantasms connected to that mob will then burst and spread conditions.
I understand it’s not the best but it helps and I enjoy this aspect of synergy