Guild Wars 2

Hey there,
New mesmer here, level 20. Loving it. I just wanted to share my experiences thus far and say that I really like the class, but it does have some pitfalls so maybe you could give me some pointers. I primarily play pve. This is my fifth toon to 80, and so far it is one of the most fun classes Ive played, and if the “fun” continues and the class gets better as I level, I might contemplate making the mesmer my main over my thief which has all ascended pieces!

I watched Mr Prometheous’ guides, all of them, and he got me curious about staff gameplay. So I am stacking condition damage, running staff & sword/pistol.

I think playing with the staff, the situation changes each time. I love pumping out clones, and if I can I especially love stacking confusion to watch the mob blow itself up, however, this doesnt happen often enough.

I have two gripes, however:
1. Clones die way too easily. This is obvious and by design. Using the staff and pumping out clones that are throwing Winds of Chaos, I wish the mobs would focus on me, not my clones. However, they seem to still smack my clones first, even if I put a few hits on the mob before making the clone. Any advice here?

2. The AOE potential is inexistant it seems. Its terrible. The mobs need to be clumped to smack them all with mind wreck. I dont want the build to be centered aruond shattering… Chaos Storm does crap damage it seems. Any idea to increase my aoe?

3.In general, I feel that my character is a bit weak and it does take a little while to kill some mobs. I know I am stacked full condition, but shouldnt the high condition damage make up for any lack of pwoer/crit?

I have just hit level 20 myself. Instead of stacking condition I went and stacked power. The Staff can use both as you’ll notice from might that the staff buff itself adds power and condition both. As I level and as I gain access to it I’ll include condition in my gear.

I found the power also helps with the Sword+Focus weapon set too. Give it a try.

Only realy strong and fast killing aoe we have is shatters, in the end its the strongest ability we have both for defens, offens and general controll. In general chaos storm in combination with shatter is a great ability at even low lvls take down several enemys.

Confusion is a fantastic tool, its somehow less strong in pve thu and as general dmg as it rely on enemy abilitys. If you stick with confusion spec etc it get stronger with time. Your ability to replace lost clones get stronger and stronger with traits. It do thu take longer to take down mobs than power, same time the gear offer more survival.

If you turn interest and feel for try shatters have a look in my guide. Strong build both for pve and pvp

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/guide-WvWvW-Shatter-cat/page/10#post1116766

Phantasm hybrid vid:

Latest “Shatter cat” guide vid:

/Osicat

When leveling, stack power. Condition is pretty terrible for PvE, even at Lvl 80. I suggest going Greatsword+Staff at least until you have 5 points in Illusions (mandatory for all specs) and 20 points in Dueling for Deceptive Evasion.

High up, you can try sword/pistol is you like so that you get the hang of it at lvl 80.

Basically until you hit level 40ish, leveling a Mesmer is slow and kind of sucks but we get better the closer we get to 80.

Clones won’t hold aggro so getting 3 up and Shattering is generally the way to go.

You won’t do crap for condition damage until level 40+ when you get access to sharper images. Power and/or precision will be much better stats until then.

you still wont do crap for conditions period till 80 its just not enough that may work with necros sure but us no i prefer to stack power prec and crit damage till 80 if u plan on lvling up and you want to kill mobs off quickly GS/Staff all the way my build is 20/20/0/0/30 working wonders for me in WvW and pve ^^ and aswell spvp this build has a butt load of damage output

Just make sure you spend 5 trait points in Illusions line early on for the -20% illusions cd.

GS + sword / (pistol,sword) are great for PvE, start building your power to 20 point in Domination (Empowered Illusions, Greatsword Training).
When pulling open with Mirror blade then iZerker.

Do not waste points in Inspiration or Chaos as you level.
Illusions tree is main shatter trait, I’d suggest fully mastering the class before going full shatter.

Different builds I came across ( by name, do search please )

1- Berserker + mantra power build: my main dungeon build full power, perc, +% crit, +3%_Each_Active_ill and +12% dmg from mantra ( disadvantage: glass cannon, mistakes can kill you, not much to do but to spam illusion and dps, you lose your utilities for mantras). change the mantra ( abilities n Traits ) if the situation requires, do not be a hostage to the 12% increased dmg.

2- “Shatter Cat” ( search for Osicat guide and wonderful videos ). Need to master mesmer and have good knowledge about your opponent. This is pure mesmer build imo.

3- Healer mantra ( experiment with it, I see it pointless )

4- Stealth ( sounds interesting, never experimented this build, but I am assuming 30 chaos and 20 Dueling and 20 Illusions is a must) mostly stealth while generating illusion and shattering them. seems like a build to live longer kill less build.

5- “Tanky” sword/sword build : sPvP build ( power + toughness + vital ) spend 20 in Dueling, 15 Chaos , 0 Inspiration and the rest is your choice. add Vampirism runes for the final mist form, slot blink and Decoy in abilities and the third experiement with “Signet of inspiration” “Arcane Thievery” and " Feedback" . do not forget about your shattering skills especially F4
warring you have to be relaxed to enjoy this build not recommended for keyboard “mashers”.

6- " Your Imagination " mesmer is versatile

cesmode.4257:

Hey there,

I have two gripes, however:
1. Clones die way too easily. This is obvious and by design. Using the staff and pumping out clones that are throwing Winds of Chaos, I wish the mobs would focus on me, not my clones. However, they seem to still smack my clones first, even if I put a few hits on the mob before making the clone. Any advice here?

2. The AOE potential is inexistant it seems. Its terrible. The mobs need to be clumped to smack them all with mind wreck. I dont want the build to be centered aruond shattering… Chaos Storm does crap damage it seems. Any idea to increase my aoe?

3.In general, I feel that my character is a bit weak and it does take a little while to kill some mobs. I know I am stacked full condition, but shouldnt the high condition damage make up for any lack of pwoer/crit?

1. Get dat Signet of Illusions. Makes all the difference between illusions being oneshot and surviving.

2a. Get dat Greatsword and/or Sword/Focus.

2b. Naturally, conditions take a bit to apply their full effect. For more direct dmg I suggest Greatsword + Sword/Focus or Sword/Pistol