Guild Wars 2

Is Berzerker’s the accepted prefix across all classes for DPS, or is it more complex than that? Most build sites I’ve seen don’t actually list the prefix at all for optimal gear. I ask because I’m thinking about running Sinister on my condi-spamming mesmer but from what I’ve been able to gather, Sinister isn’t particularly viable, except for some necros.

It is a bit more complicated. First, in some cases, even if you go power, assassin (or at least a mix of berserker and assassin) can be better since you reach 100% (or more) crit chance. This is particularly true for reflects.

Then, the question condi vs power is not trivial. Power is the current meta, but to be fair, the build is not aimed at doing damage but at buffing your party with alacrity and quickness. If damage was your only focus, then actually condi does currently better DPS. Ultimately it also depends on the encounter. High toughness favor condi, but short fight favors power. But as I said, in a 5 (or 10) man group, your DPS is secondary to your utilities (alacrity+quickness).

Also, I think viper is more DPS than sinister.

Optimal condie gear for a Mesmer is mostly vipers with a bit of sinister. However, condie Mesmer is rarely a build that will actually be a good fit for a party/encounter as it has a lot of mechanical problems that limit its usefulness.

Generally speaking, Mesmer should be running an alacrity-quickness support build with assassin’s or berserker gear.