Guild Wars 2

Okay, so I know PvP discussion is a little hot right now, but I’m posting here (instead of PvP forum) because a LOT of the Mesmer forum contributors are actually really helpful. Also, if you’ve been around for the past month, you know I’ve been posting a lot of questions with the honest intent of being a better Mesmer player. In doing so I am attempting to bring skill, teamwork, honesty, class, integrity and sportsmanship to my gameplay, as well as to those around me. I’m sorry for the dramatic beginning here, I just want to be upfront about how I am trying to learn, I am open minded, and would really like to keep negativity at the door.

I’m going to post a lot of questions here, and I’ll number them so it’s easy for others to clearly address them. I might have multiple questions under one number, but that’s just because the questions are closely related. I’m reading the wiki, but you guys can confirm/correct my thoughts. Also, please feel free to comment on anything else I write (not just the questions).

Yesterday I tried PvP for the first time. It was very confusing, at the beginning. I did the little heart quest based tutorial, which basically taught me nothing. For first off, (1) can anyone suggested a thread, website or anything else that has a comprehensive guide to general PvP play for newbies? I mean, something that gets into the very basics like explaining maps, how they work, how PvP works, how the build system works etc. First thing I figured was well, I gotta set up a build. So I went into the build system and picked my traits, picked my runes/sigils/accessories. However, I was only able to choose weapons from what I had on me. (2) How does weapon choice work? Is it only from the weapons you have equipped or inventory? I see in some thing online that the weapons seem to be all normalized. Is that true? Is it the same for armor? Does it not matter what PvE gear you have equipped? After I got that done, I wasn’t sure what to do next so I just hit the button to play now or whatever it was. After that I was put into a game. Then I hit the button to put me in a random team (I think). From what I can tell, the game centers around controlling capture points and that in doing so, you get points/time. You can also get points from killing enemies, but you get more from CPs. It also seemed like most people tried to do their own thing, but there was some light group org. (3) Is this the sPvP I keep hearing about? (4) What general advice can you offer with respect to how to play this gametype? Is it best to focus on trying to get others to work together to focus on capturing and controlling CPs?

It seems like there are other gametypes as well. There was team stuff, arenas, and more. (5) Can someone give me a breakdown of what these other gametypes are, and any general advise for them?

I’ll be honest, I got some kills and I died a lot. My teams lost way more than we won, and I’m sure part of that was the fact that I’m new. I know this is a l2p issue, which is why I’m here. This is the build I put together on the fly. It’s probably all messed up. I only had staff/GS on me. I just sort of picked stuff that I had read about and knew was used in some builds. As you can see, I tried to have stealth on hand so I could try and get away when needed. I kept getting engrossed in the battles and when I did try to disengage, I was always found. The battles all seemed hectic and furious. I kept feeling like I was just trying to throw everything I had at someone, without much time/thought to WHAT I was doing. Just throw phants out and try to dodge. So, this brings me to my last two questions (for now). (6) What advise can you give a new PvP player, with respect to how to play? What L2P advice can you give for this? (7) What builds can you suggest for a new PvP player? Something forgiving. Also, keep in mind that I’m open to ANY builds that are forgiving to new players, so PU, whatever… I don’t care what the perception of it is. Please include links to gw2skills.net that show the weapons, skills, traits, sigils/runs, etc etc. Also, if you have the time and inclination, please describe how to play it, why it works, what to watch out for, weaknesses etc.

I know all of this is best learned on your own, and I plan on putting a lot of time into learning, but getting a leg up on some builds/playstyles to start with will really cut out some of the time/frustration with getting started.

Above all, THANK YOU!

Heya, so I am actually not going to give you a build and instead I am going to help you find the build you want to play. I cannot answer all of the questions but I can help with builds. Way back in beta, a guildie of mine asked me these questions to help me find my build and playstyle. Also, the lyssa’s grimoire is a great post for you to read. It’ll really help you learn about Mesmer! Anyways, here are the questions:

1: What are your favorite weapons? Be sure to test all of them and the ones you enjoy most.

2: What type of Mesmer do you like? Do you enjoy blowing people off the map? Or more of a control/annoying based Mesmer? Do you like power or conditions?

3: What are your favorite trait(s)? Usually every person has a favorite trait, try to make a build off that.

4: What is your favorite utility or utilities? These will usually help define your playstyle better and will help your build selection.

When you have answered these questions, you should have a good idea of what you like and someone can help you refine your answers with their knowledge. That’s honestly all I can say for now, as I am on my phone haha. Take care and welcome to Mesmer!

This post. This post right here is everything that is wrong with pvp in GW2. This post shouldn’t need to exist. There should be a tutorial, there should be hints, there should be explanations, ugh.

At any rate, when I’m feeling less wiped out, I’ll type something up for you.

To part of (2), all gear is normalized. You can use any weapons a mesmer can do, not limited to your inventory. You can use nearly every rune in PvP off the bat, as well. There should be a button on top labelled “PvP Build” where you can freely customize your character’s stats and gear. PvE gear does not affect PvP.

To (3) sPvP is Solo PvP, counter parted to TPvP[Team PvP]. These are arena types. When you open up the PvP menu, there’s a label called “Arenas” where choosing between these is possible. You can also go into non-tournemant arenas through the Game Browser option, usually for testing or just for fun.

Just so happens to be a beginner’s PvP guide stickied at the top of the sPvP forum. Decent info here, and Grouch updated it with the new patch info:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/pvp/pvp/New-to-PvP-Start-here/first

Also check the mesmer guide to solo que in pyro’s signature, moar good info there.

Dondagora.9645:

To (3) sPvP is Solo PvP, counter parted to TPvP[Team PvP]. These are arena types.

This is absolutely not accurate.

sPvP is structured PvP. tPvP is tournament PvP.

sPvP is just the overall catchall for pvp that occurs in heart of the mists, in both normal hotjoin and tournaments. tPvP refers specifically to tournament matches, which are composed of ‘solo queuing’ and ‘team queuing’.

skcamow.3527:

Also check the mesmer guide to solo que in pyro’s signature, moar good info there.

I’d recommend this a bit later actually. My guide is written for people that already have a decent idea of what they’re about, but want to learn how to win. It’s not exactly meant as a guide for teaching the basics of pvp itself.

Pyroathiest.4168:

Dondagora.9645:

To (3) sPvP is Solo PvP, counter parted to TPvP[Team PvP]. These are arena types.

This is absolutely not accurate.

sPvP is structured PvP. tPvP is tournament PvP.

sPvP is just the overall catchall for pvp that occurs in heart of the mists, in both normal hotjoin and tournaments. tPvP refers specifically to tournament matches, which are composed of ‘solo queuing’ and ‘team queuing’.

Ah, well then, I’ve been completely off this whole time. And the acronyms were perfect too… Apparently, every time I post, one thing has to be wrong. All a learning experience.

Thanks all so far! In the PvP forum, I’ve now read the stickied guide, another popular guide in there, and Pyro’s. It’s starting to click.

Just to clarify, I am not exactly “new” to Mesmer in general, I’m level 76, but I’ve been playing open world and dungeons only.

With respect to weapons, Dondagora says that they’re all available. When I went into the build section, the only weapon choices I had were staff/GS (the weapons I had on me). There was no dropdown or other apparent way to swap out my weapons. There was a “search” function there, but I couldn’t get anything to come up in search. It was very confusing, and I’m still not sure how to select other weapons. Help…?

As for warlord’s questions, here’s what I can offer:
1) Staff. I’ve tried them all through PvE, and what I like the most is staff. GS would be #2, though I’m not married to it. I’d like to find a build that focuses on staff.

2) This. It doesn’t have to be exactly this, I just really like the idea of a “chaos” mesmer throwing out tons of clones/phats, having them hurt the enemy when they die, and building up conditions while evading damage. There’s a point in the thread where the OP talks about how this build punishes the enemy for everything they do. That seems very cool. I kinda like the idea of some sort of torment+confusion+DoT(bleed/burn/poison) focus. IDK, the idea of hurting them when they move+use skill+don’t do anything seems awesome. I’d be even more for this build if ANet had “fixed” IE.

3) Hard to say. I would have said IE if it had been fixed, just because I love the idea of tons of chaotic orbs flying everywhere. I’ve used Deceptive Evasion since I got it. Debilitating Dissipation seems very cool.

4) I like Decoy a lot. Clone+stealth+stun break is cool

Again, take all these answers with a grain of salt, b/c idk what’s good for PvP. I feel like I’m leaning towards that Maniac Magician or the PU condition build that Pyro has in his thread. I know it’s the popular Mesmer build to hate, but I just really like the idea of stacking conditions all over the place and evading/stealthing around to let my conditions do their work. Perhaps these builds take more skill than I have right now to use correctly? It seems like they might take longer than normal to kill people, which might have me at a disadvantage.

One last question… how exactly does getting credit for a kill work? Is it only the person who does the finisher? So you could get someone to downed state, but someone else starts the stomp before you and gets the credit? Is there some etiquette to this, to avoid ganking kill credit?

I’m not entirely sure how weapon selection works now that they merged it with pve gear – I think you have to buy a corresponding pve item, which will then be available in the pvp build interface and normalised to pvp stats?

Reading your post, a 0/20/30/0/20 condition build could work well with your favourite weapon being the staff – traiting for that and elasticity. I haven’t played a condition build since glamour/confusion so can’t give any more information on that subject.

Nothing wrong with using stealth – as long as you remember you can’t cap or contest a point, and be smart with using stealth skills.

sirrealist.1360:

-snip-

Weapons are available for purchase at the vendors in the pvp area. You can use those.

Kill credit doesn’t matter. You’ll have some amount of personal points in the match, but they’re largely irrelevant. The one and only thing that matters is if your team wins. Holding points ticks for your score. Getting kills is 5 points each. Some maps have special objectives that award extra points as well. First team to 500 wins.

I should add a couple of tips as well.
- You cannot cap points in stealth or invulnerability like distortion.
- In Spirit Watch I don’t recommend you grab the orb, as all stealth skills and blink will cause your orb to drop. But if situation demands by all means go for it.
- Mesmers can blink up to treb location via a gap next to spawn point at the beginning of Battle of Khylo
- In Temple of the Silent Storm you won’t be able to commune in stealth or invulnerability
- Phase retreat and blink can get you to a leveled platforms, as long as you can reach those targets without jumping (there are still stairs leading to them but maybe far away to walk to)

NICENIKESHOE.7128:

- In Spirit Watch I don’t recommend you grab the orb, as all stealth skills and blink will cause your orb to drop. But if situation demands by all means go for it.

Stealth skills won’t cause you to drop the orb, but they will fail to provide stealth. Any sort of blink or invulnerability skill will cause it to drop, and this includes the tiny phase that occurs when one of the blocks (sc/sw) activate.

NICENIKESHOE.7128:

- Mesmers can blink up to treb location via a gap next to spawn point at the beginning of Battle of Khylo

You can blink up to the treb by targeting anywhere on the boardwalk surrounding the treb, you’re not limited to that one small area.

NICENIKESHOE.7128:

- In Temple of the Silent Storm you won’t be able to commune in stealth or invulnerability

You can commune while invuln. Popping distortion can sometimes get you the last little bit necessary to finish a commune.

So this is the build I played last night.

I played for about 1.5hrs. I tried to remember to swap weapons every 10s or so, to proc my sigils. I tried to play smart, focusing on grabbing CPs and not just dueling. I tried to get better with blink, and play smart.

I wasn’t on the winning team once. Not once in 1.5hrs. I know I didn’t play the best, and at times I was lowest ranked on my team. Usually I was in the middle, sometimes 2nd. Could it just have been bad luck?

Hey dude, are you on US or EU? Anddd are ya in [OMFG]? I’d happily meet up with ya in-game and try to help out. I’m a bit too pressed for time for a lengthy write-up.

Edit: Also, take the points from Illusions and 5 from Dueling and throw them into Dom for a traited torch and Crippling Dissipation.
As for using a PU condition-build, you may be running in to problems because a lot of people have learned how to fight PU Mesmer atleast semi-decently. Many know your weaknesses and strengths and will use them against you.

I’m having a blast with Osicats Napalm build in spvp now, it works really good, hard to take down guardian bunker builds but thiefs, warrior, rangers.. most eles and engineers are doable. Other mesmers are fun too, especially power phantasm, all their phantams go up in flames

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/On-demand-burst-condi-Napalm-Cat

Be careful with the steath though, you don’t count as present in the capture rings (they called that? lol) when you are stealthed. On my weapons I use sigils of Smoldering instead of Sigil of Torment in spvp. Check out his build to see what I’m talking about.

Only down side is speed, your slow as a kitten.

sirrealist.1360:

So this is the build I played last night.

I played for about 1.5hrs. I tried to remember to swap weapons every 10s or so, to proc my sigils. I tried to play smart, focusing on grabbing CPs and not just dueling. I tried to get better with blink, and play smart.

I wasn’t on the winning team once. Not once in 1.5hrs. I know I didn’t play the best, and at times I was lowest ranked on my team. Usually I was in the middle, sometimes 2nd. Could it just have been bad luck?

Seriously, ignore the end of game rankings. They actually mean nothing. There’s only 1 single indicator of your play. Did your team win or lose?

Now, not winning once means something, and it’s mostly that you’re a new player. I just remembered something you may want to look into. Check out the series ‘Sensotix goes solo queue’.

jenzie.4083:

I’m having a blast with Osicats Napalm build in spvp now, it works really good, hard to take down guardian bunker builds but thiefs, warrior, rangers.. most eles and engineers are doable. Other mesmers are fun too, especially power phantasm, all their phantams go up in flames

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/On-demand-burst-condi-Napalm-Cat

Be careful with the steath though, you don’t count as present in the capture rings (they called that? lol) when you are stealthed. On my weapons I use sigils of Smoldering instead of Sigil of Torment in spvp. Check out his build to see what I’m talking about.

Only down side is speed, your slow as a kitten.

Best I can tell, the PvP version would be this, correct? It doesn’t seem that Sigil of Torment is available for PvP, so I chose Sigil of Fire to synergize with Runes of Balthazar. This could be totally bad and there might be a better sigil to choose (if so, please help!).

I watched the vid, but I’m still very new to PvP. Can you give me an idea of how this is supposed to work? You’re supposed to shatter I’m guessing, but when and what kind (1-4)? I know it’s situational, but there must be a general strategy. Once I hear back from you, I’ll rewatch the vid a few times to make it sink in.

Pyroathiest.4168:

Seriously, ignore the end of game rankings. They actually mean nothing. There’s only 1 single indicator of your play. Did your team win or lose?

Now, not winning once means something, and it’s mostly that you’re a new player. I just remembered something you may want to look into. Check out the series ‘Sensotix goes solo queue’.

Cool, I found his thread here.

Am i correct in assuming that I should ignore the builds (age) and just focus on the strategy?

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Hey dude, are you on US or EU? Anddd are ya in [OMFG]? I’d happily meet up with ya in-game and try to help out. I’m a bit too pressed for time for a lengthy write-up.

Edit: Also, take the points from Illusions and 5 from Dueling and throw them into Dom for a traited torch and Crippling Dissipation.
As for using a PU condition-build, you may be running in to problems because a lot of people have learned how to fight PU Mesmer atleast semi-decently. Many know your weaknesses and strengths and will use them against you.

US, and am a memer of OMFG. I’d love to partner up and see what I can learn! I’ll look for you in the guild list next time I’m on. Problem is, my timezone is HST (GMT-10), and since I go on after work, it’s often too late for others. Let me know what time zone you’re in so maybe we can work something out.

sirrealist.1360:

Cool, I found his thread here.

Am i correct in assuming that I should ignore the builds (age) and just focus on the strategy?

Yeah, don’t worry about the builds so much. He plays other classes than mesmer in that series as well. What you want to do is watch and see what he does with those builds, the general strategy. Try to line it up with my guide to solo queue if you can.

sirrealist.1360:

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Hey dude, are you on US or EU? Anddd are ya in [OMFG]? I’d happily meet up with ya in-game and try to help out. I’m a bit too pressed for time for a lengthy write-up.

Edit: Also, take the points from Illusions and 5 from Dueling and throw them into Dom for a traited torch and Crippling Dissipation.
As for using a PU condition-build, you may be running in to problems because a lot of people have learned how to fight PU Mesmer atleast semi-decently. Many know your weaknesses and strengths and will use them against you.

US, and am a memer of OMFG. I’d love to partner up and see what I can learn! I’ll look for you in the guild list next time I’m on. Problem is, my timezone is HST (GMT-10), and since I go on after work, it’s often too late for others. Let me know what time zone you’re in so maybe we can work something out.

I’m in your friend’s list, on the guild too. Msg me, I am always online at night CA time. I mostly do only PvP. I’ll be glad to help you out.

sirrealist.1360:

jenzie.4083:

I’m having a blast with Osicats Napalm build in spvp now, it works really good, hard to take down guardian bunker builds but thiefs, warrior, rangers.. most eles and engineers are doable. Other mesmers are fun too, especially power phantasm, all their phantams go up in flames

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/On-demand-burst-condi-Napalm-Cat

Be careful with the steath though, you don’t count as present in the capture rings (they called that? lol) when you are stealthed. On my weapons I use sigils of Smoldering instead of Sigil of Torment in spvp. Check out his build to see what I’m talking about.

Only down side is speed, your slow as a kitten.

Best I can tell, the PvP version would be this, correct? It doesn’t seem that Sigil of Torment is available for PvP, so I chose Sigil of Fire to synergize with Runes of Balthazar. This could be totally bad and there might be a better sigil to choose (if so, please help!).

I watched the vid, but I’m still very new to PvP. Can you give me an idea of how this is supposed to work? You’re supposed to shatter I’m guessing, but when and what kind (1-4)? I know it’s situational, but there must be a general strategy. Once I hear back from you, I’ll rewatch the vid a few times to make it sink in.

Pyroathiest.4168:

Seriously, ignore the end of game rankings. They actually mean nothing. There’s only 1 single indicator of your play. Did your team win or lose?

Now, not winning once means something, and it’s mostly that you’re a new player. I just remembered something you may want to look into. Check out the series ‘Sensotix goes solo queue’.

Cool, I found his thread here.

Am i correct in assuming that I should ignore the builds (age) and just focus on the strategy?

The sigil I use instead of Torment is called Sigil of Smoldering, adds 20% to burning duration.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNAW7fl0npRt1qxMNcrRSpxY6cO6mTdFpCokjUOA-TJhAwAw2fgcZAAXEgNPBAA

My attack cycle is quite situational but the basic attack and the general idea is to get staff phantasms up first with phase retreat, dodge and the phantasm, they pump out conditions and will keep your victim(s) burning all the time. They add even more conditions if killed, usually no problem to keep three up all the time. When they are up, I throw in a staff#5 on top of my clones and victim, I usually wait with Chaos Armor since that gives you away to the enemy.

Then I switch to Torch, go stealth, depending on the situation I either wait a second or two or instantly go scepter 3, then close up, scepter 2 and get the block that gives torment (go up in their face in front of them, then its harder for them to spot it), about then the blast from Torch 4# should kick in and you can even drop a heal there, to trigger your Rune #6 but not necesary. Then switch back to staff and repeat. Remember to dodge and move behind the enemy alot with blink/phase retreat. Dont be afraid to disengage, move out and heal up, sometimes they dont even notice and keep fighting the phantams. Another fun thing if you have the cool is to stand still and just do staff attack, then they cant spot you Can freak people out heh.

The build got really good survivability and sustained dmg. Remember that many builds are quite bursty, so I use stealth (not the Elite though, I use that for stealthing donwed team mates when I revive, unless it on a cap spot, then u need to be careful with stealth) and dodge quite frequently in the beginning to let them waste their “unf” and then they melt or run.

I also use the portal instead of the Stun signet, its so useful in pvp.

The classes that give me most problems are good Necros and some Eles and bunker guardians. Melee are usually a breeze. Some rangers can be a bit slow to kill, guess they got good regen.

You will get a lot of whining, especially from warriors and thiefs.