What are some Noob/Mistake-Friendly shatter builds for 1v1 roaming in WvW?
ive been PU/Condi for the longest and want to change my playstyle
Noob/Mistake-friendly Shatter Build?
Very simple really:
Either you go with a standard 4/4/0/0/6 Power-Shatter, but change Zerker gear to include more Toughness. In hot join PvP you can go with the Knights Amulet for example. (Pow/Prec/Tough)
This will allow you noticeably more time to react to Thieves, Rangers, or other burst specs/builds. Naturally, this comes at a pretty significant cost to damage output, so you’ll have to weigh that for yourself. In WvW though you can definitely find ways to get a good mix of damage & survivability even into a P-Shatter build.
Secondly, you can try a MtD Shatter build. It will allow you to learn a lot of the essential skills of Shatter-oriented play, but with far less skill required as far as survivability is concerned. You will still have considerable AE damage output, but of course in the form of Torment, so condition cleanses in group warfare will frustrate you at times. (The way to overcome this is to use all of your shatters. Shatter often, shatter hard, clones, clones, and more clones! Then MtD again. This works pretty well actually, but is generally speaking not comparable to the spike P-Shatter can give you.)
Basically, a Zerker P-Shatter build survives almost entirely on player reaction time, ping, and skill in using the escape tools you have, and then landing your bursts to kill before you die basically. ;-) Between Decoy, Blink, maybe Torch invis or Chaos Storm & Phase Retreat, Blurred Frenzy, and Ether Feast you have some sustain if you keep your opponent wondering where the real Mesmer is.
You have to play very aggressive, don’t hesitate, never stop moving, use your Dodges wisely, use terrain to your advantage (blink), and just keep practicing. If you have great reflexes and a great connection, you can do amazing things on P-Shatter, but if you do not have both of those you will get frustrated really fast on how glassy you are. (Things will look up a bit after next patch with AoE Blind and other things buying you some valuable reaction time.)
GL!
Don’t flame me but I have tried and used a shatter build in wvw roaming that is 04226. I have found since wvw is unpredictable the shorter blink and condition removal on heal priceless. Using gs/staff. The results are still very powerful with guard stacks food and oil/stones. Again only in wvw where you can boost using consumables.