Guild Wars 2

Dat alliteration!

Figured the best way to start submitting builds for Testers to try out was to have a thread specifically for them. Here testers can pick up builds, co-ordinate on who is testing what, and submit written feedback. Some things to keep in mind:

TESTERS

• Post when you’re testing a build, and which build you’re testing so people do not overlap.
• Please spend at least an hour with a build. Do not simply look at a build and praise/dismiss it. Give yourself time to learn the groove of the playstyle.
• While you’re totally encouraged to jump on whatever build you’d like, try to test playstyles (Shatter/Condition/Phantasm/Support) that you’re familiar with. I’m not saying don’t explore different things, but if you’re not used to a certain style it may take longer time to adjust to the mentality.

• Please give a detailed review. Pros/Cons of a build and what you’d do to improve Damage/Survivability/Ect.

POSTERS

• Please inform if the build is meant for PvE/PvP/WvW
• If it’s for PvE or WvW, understand that runes/gear can be expensive. A little gold could go a long way to a quicker response, but is certainly not required.

They aren’t rules so much as they’re suggestions.
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I’ll keep this post updated requested builds to test:

- Phloww’s ‘Smoke & Mirrors’ / ‘Rings on my Fingers’ ( PvE Hybrid Condition / Power builds. Currently undecided on whether to go full-condition or not and having trouble surviving with Smoke & Mirrors )

-Phloww’s hybrid build

- Windwalker’s Interrupt/Shatter

- Chaos Archangel’s Shatter Maestro concept

- WitchKing’s Corrupt Support Mesmer (NEW)

These are some good guidelines. As a registered “tester”, here are some things going through my mind on this:

• In particular reference to the second bullet above, every build idea deserves to be played at the very least. I have to believe that somewhere down the line, a potentially solid build was not explored or developed due to negative feedback from a quick skim through it. That being said, in the future there are sure to be builds submitted that are very similar or identical to others that have already been tested and in these cases, I think it would be appropriate to reference the original tested build or build that may already be stickied in the list.

• If you choose a build to test, I suggest to get with the build owner in-game or via PM to discuss any aspects of the build that would be necessary, such as 1) If there wasn’t enough clarity in the build post itself, 2) specific situations the build owner would like to see the build tested (not generically PvE/Dungeon/WvW/PvP), like “can you fight this champion with it”, “can you run this dungeon”, “can you fight this class”, etc.

• I personally would be willing to record videos of any build I choose to test to help the owner provide a more comprehensive look into it. So if there is an active forum post on the build, this info and any feedback from the tester could be used (if desired) to augment it.

• This may be obvious but I think an important point. Ultimately the build posted belongs to the poster, and all the testing is purely to help, by those willing to take the time to do so. The build owner retains the right to post what they would like in their official build thread, regardless of the testing that was put into it.

• Just in case this topic arises, I would personally like to avoid ratings for builds. Even though we all know some builds are very strong, some good, some viable, some average, and some even meh – I prefer to allow the reader to make their own decision based on the information given in the thread (tester’s feedback, etc if included).

These are just my opinions – anyone else have thoughts on making this process the most productive it can be? Just want to make this as helpful as possible.

Alright to set the tone off I would like to say as a fellow Tester that I specialize in condition builds. I am constantly tweaking mine and trying a wide variety of things to max out Condition Damage. Right now I am testing out the full extent of the Runes of Perplexity and there confusion applying ability.

Right now my build is kitten.
Rabid Armor
Giver Weapons
Runes of Perplexity
2 Sigils of Doom, 1 Sigil of Accuracy, 1 Sigil of Corruption

Scepter/Torch, Sword/Pistol

20 (V, IX) – 20 (II, X) – 30 (V, VIII, XII)
Blink, Decoy, Mantra of Distraction

Food is required pretty much required. Rare Veggie pizza is what we need.

So far this build hits like a truck and keeps confusion at a constant 10+ stacks. Along with 100% poison uptime, and constant bleeds.

You did not mention it but with your weapon choice it looks like single target so I would assume bosses in PvE or dueling.

Also I want to clarify the traits, are they 20-20-30-0-0 ?
FYI. it is variation on Shatter Cat’s Condition 2.0

If you are using this build, keep staff + focus at hand for big group fights.
I hate to have to swap, but the combination is just deadly for the clockwork events right now. In that case you can swap Dom (IX) for Dom(II)

Your right I missed some information in there, to clarify I do use this build primarily to roam WvW and I already have a staff and focus handy for when I decide to group up. Also 20-20-30-0-0 is correct and as to it being a variation of Osicats build your right, we both use the same traits and such but 20-20-30-0-0 has been a staple Condition trait line for quite some time.

Now I do not do a lot of PvE with my confusion oriented build being much weaker there, but your trait suggestions sound like it would work well.

The other major style of play I do is gWvW. When I do gWvW I change to a Glamour focused build, I am still testing it heavily though and with the announcement of the Dire armor set I can’t wait to test it more.

Thank you Chaos and great guidelines, Skcamow!

Also, after much input and suggestions, the two builds that I’m working on (Smoke ’n Mirrors/Rings on My Fingers) have some big and small changes.

Due to plenty of builds revolving around stealth/illusions, I decided to no longer test my Smoke ‘n Mirrors. HOWEVER, in its place, I am revamping and retesting my Flowing Images build, mashing the two versions – Critical and Shatter, and making it a full condition build. Here’s a quick break down:

Flowing Images (Revamped):
- Scepter/Pistol + Staff
- Trait spec: 0 – 30 (I, IX, X) – 0 – 10 (II) – 30 (V, VII, XI) or 10 (VI) – 20 (II, X) – 10 (V) – 0 – 30 (V, VII, XI) or 0 – 30 (II, IX, X) – 10 (V) – 20 (II, VII) – 10 (V) (Non-shatter version)
- Utility skills: Feedback, Phantasmal Disenchanter (or Null Field), Blink
- Rabid armor & weapons (may have some Dire once it goes live)
- Trinkets are mix of Rabid and other stat from laurel vendor (may also change)
- Runes of Perplexity or Nightmare (may change to Scavenging or Noble once changed)
- Sigil of Ice/Sigil of Accuracy + Sigil of Accuracy (or Doom)
- Nourishments are Master Tuning Crystal and Orrian Truffle Soup or Rare Veggie Pizza

I’ve tested a similar setup of this with a previous version of Flowing Images before but it was hybrid power/condition and traits setup was a bit different. A couple benefits of this build is the ability to stack bleed and confusion quickly via iDuelist , Duelist’s Discipline, and ethereal fields (I’m aware that the trait giving 100% projectile finisher is a bug, but why not use it?) and in addition, make constant illusions to shatter (mainly using Cry of Frustration, Diversion, and Distortion).
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Now, with “Rings on My Fingers”, I’ve decided to also make it a full condition build and is renamed to Ringbearer, but have 2 variants of it – one with torch and one without it.

Ringbearer – Variant 1:
- Scepter/Torch + Staff
- Trait spec: 20 (VI, IX) – 30 (V, VIII, X) – 20 (IV, V) – 0 – 0
- Utility skills: Signet of Midnight, Signet of Inspiration, Signet of Domination
- Armor, weapon, trinkets, runes, sigils, and nourishments are same as Flowing Images

Ringbearer – Variant 2:
- Scepter/Sword + Staff
- Trait spec: 10 (VI) – 30 (V, VIII, X) – 30 (IV, V, IX) – 0 – 0
- Utility skills: Same as variant 1
- Armor, weapon, trinkets, and runes are same as above
- Sigil of Generosity (or Purity)/Sigil of Hydromancy + Sigil Doom
- Food nourishment is Truffle Risotto while utility is same as above

All builds are meant for PvE open world and dungeons at the moment. I will test them currently and after Sept. 3rd update with some Dire and new runes.

Edit: Added the original Flowing Images – Shatter and a non-shatter version to the Flowing Images to test along with the new one. Not sure if this is okay to add these after 5 in the morning. .

Anyone mind taking this build for a spin in sPvP / WvW?

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Mind-Crush-sPvP-Lockdown-Burst-Build/first#post2749894

@Phloww You have some good stuff there man, my only recommendation is that having a Ringbearer variant without a torch seems counter-productive in a condition build. Otherwise I look forward to seeing Flowing Images take full form, it has a lot of interesting choices, but looks killer.

@Chaos – I will try to take it for a spin a little this week and I will post here with results. I do however have some IRL test coming up so my testing may be slow.

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Anyone mind taking this build for a spin in sPvP / WvW?

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Mind-Crush-sPvP-Lockdown-Burst-Build/first#post2749894

I spent about 5 hours dueling/hotjoining with t yesterday. I recorded some good duels and will post a simple video soon ^__^.

I feel like i have much more defense than on shatter, for some reason… And duels with evenly skilled people were still balanced, i like this build!

The best thing about this, is that you still have alot of mesmer mobility, whih makes it really easy to learn, and shatters are surprisingly dffective with vulnerability stacks :o.

@Lockdown burst build: I’ve been messing with this for a bit. It just feels a bit weak and a bit too spread out. I’m certainly able to kill people sometimes, but not always, and often times the damage simply isn’t high enough.

Interrupts are still of questionable usage. It’s extremely difficult to interrupt asuras, and some classes have very few interruptable skills.

While the build works, it just doesn’t seem particularly optimal for particularly anything.

@Pyro: The build takes some time to really get into (I’m still learning more 3 weeks in) but I actually have been getting pretty high damage numbers (3-5k Swordsman, riposte, and warlock ) I had given a bad description on how to use the interrupts before, so my bad for that. Interrupts are not the main strength of the build, chaining dazes, stacking vuln, and removing boons are. Interrupts are just rewards for good -and sometimes lucky- play.
But I’ve done enough testing on my own for the build and now just need to move on to writeups and figuring out how to put this video program on. (comp gets fixed.. and now disk drive doesn’t work -_-) I am totally convinced of the strength of the build.

Gonna link some builds for our testers to dig into. (Too lazy to get fancy today)

-Phloww’s hybrid build – https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/A-hybrid-mix-build-idea-Any-thoughts

-Windwalker’s Interrupt/Shatter- https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/sPvP-Build-GC-AoE-Interrupt-Shatter

-Chaos Archangel’s Shatter Maestro concept- https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Guide-The-Chaos-Maestro-WvW-Support-Builds/2811834

If anyone has any other builds they’d like tested, please post ‘em here. You don’t have to be a member of the guild to request a tester to analyze your spec.

I will test the Ringbearer – Variant 1: by Phloww in the next few days.
Do you want it tested in pve enviroment right?

I believe that’s what it was intended for. Speaking of which, where are the rest of our testers at!? =[ I know we have a lot of people registered as testers yet so few post here.

I’m here although I am not entirely sure what to post tbh. I have the final form of my Dire armor build though.

Well, the original idea was that build testers would pop into this thread, announce what build they’re testing and then within a few weeks return with a writeup on their opinions/experience with the build and any ideas they had to improve on it.

… But I’ve no idea if our Testers are actually testing since there has been no feedback. x_x

@Chaos, just a suggestion, would it be helpful to keep the active list in the OP of all the known builds that still need testing (e.g., the builds you linked a few posts up)? That way you should be able to keep within the char limit by cycling builds in and out. The builds that get attention would get an additional post/write up in this thread as you pointed out (much like Pyro did).

I know there are a lot more builds than that, so I think it’s partly an awareness thing to let people know this is available and they can post/link their builds here (assuming of course we have willing and able testers).

Hey testers
Would one of you mind taking either of my corrupt builds out for a spin?
The link is in my signature and if one of you kindly do try it out, would be great if you could post the results in my thread just so I don’t crowd up this thread.
Thanks in advance

skcamow.3527:

@Chaos, just a suggestion, would it be helpful to keep the active list in the OP of all the known builds that still need testing (e.g., the builds you linked a few posts up)? That way you should be able to keep within the char limit by cycling builds in and out. The builds that get attention would get an additional post/write up in this thread as you pointed out (much like Pyro did).

I know there are a lot more builds than that, so I think it’s partly an awareness thing to let people know this is available and they can post/link their builds here (assuming of course we have willing and able testers).

Why… Didn’t.. I think.. to update.. the OP.. -_- Ty.

Just bumping this up for anyone in the botm contest looking for a tester, this will just make it easier to find one. Post if you are looking for a tester for your build

Just wanted to throw this into the mix.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Any-advice-on-a-Power-Cripple-PU-build/first#post3157868

Only thing of note is that in 1v1 to 1v3 I use Scepter/Torch. Anything larger I generally switch to Sword/Torch for the cleave. And if I see a solo necro/engi coming I’ll swap into cleansing conflagration as well. Otherwise, build is what it is.

Also, I know this isn’t the proper forum, but I’m happy to help test if you need help. I’m on TC maybe every other evening PST (mostly in WvW), and god knows I have like every armor set and weapon/stat variant at this point too. (Also, I need to get around to joining the mesmer guild too.)

Now if only i didn’t pick such a silly name (bunda???) when I registered for the game…

i tested ring of fire build by , torch version, in pve enviroment as requested.
General impression: the build offers a optimal survivability thanks to the high toughness in equipment and to the distorsion granted by the sigils. In my opinion the build is expecially good for players who are not so confindent running around as pure glass cannon berserk mesmer. I like the distortion on sigil activation but at the same time the sigils are the problem of the build. Sigil of Midnight is great, has a reasonable cd, break stun, blind and gives you distortion. Sigil of Illusion has a too long cd for this build and offer nothing useful. Sigil of Domination has a passive effect useful in this build, most of the time you want use it for the distortion becouse it will stun you target anyway, work well with the perplexity runes in the armor. Signet of Ispiration has the problem of long casting time if you try to use it for the distortion, plus it has a pretty long cd even traited. The thing is the sigils in mesmer are not so strong they don’t bring enough on the table and this is detrimental for this build.
pve open world roaming: if you want a build to run around the open world, to farm nodes, to complete maps, and maybe kill a few champs this one will work well for you. It’s hard for you to die with all the armor, the distortion, the blinds, the useful tools staff, torch and scepter offer you. Don’t try to kill the enemy one by one, or it will become boring but if you aggro 4-5 mobs you will kill them pretty fast like phantasm builds but whitout any problem to survive.
pve group events: no problem at all with big champions for the dragon chests , may be difficult to tag mobs in multimob farming events like the ones in orr. You’ll have to use the conflagration by the torch. It’s much easier using GS.
dungeons: this is where the build starts to have problems. Conditions in dungeons are not optimals becouse your conditions are in competition with those from others player. You will have a hard time trying to apply torment on bosses, and many of them don’t even move. In addition you are not bringing any of the utilities every mesmer should do.
TL;DR in short this build is very good in open world pve, expecially if you are looking for an easy time (you won’t die and the damage is good), but i will not reccomend it in dungeon where others build outshine this one.

i apology for all the time it took me to write this report.

@maei, I just wanted to extend thanks for testing Phloww’s Ringbearer build. Your efforts are helping push this idea forward.

Your detail was good and no apologies necessary for the time you took to write the report!

Hello everybody,
I’m running this build for WvW roaming. Spent a lot of time to make it perfectly fit my playstyle. It is more oriented to power dmg and shatters, but it is kind of hybrid.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAW8dl0zKqHVzpGb9ICqHaH4xdkU0asWJFz2FC-jEDBIgERz0CQUgYkHwEIBJ/pIasl1FRjVrET/SIVDLymxJyUeY1SBAx0I-w

Try combo of Temporal pull, Diversion, Mirror Images, Mind Wrack, Blurred Frenzy. Leave enemies with 6-16 stacks of confusion and does about 12k dmg. I love it.
It takes some time to become god with this build, cause you dont have PU you know. But for me it is all about having fun, hope you will have fun time with it too.
Go ahead and try it.
I apologize for my poor English

’Ello dere!

So i’m not sure if the contest is still on hiatus or not – but i figure i’d submit my build just in case. The build – “Phantastic Mantras”
Link to the build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAR8al4zipXUTlGb9IxZGQ35keo6Uv6yHwNA-ToAg0E1oqxVjpGZN2aGUsoYDB
Link to the forum page: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Build-Phantastic-Mantras

As the name suggests, it’s a phantasm build, with extra reliance on mantras. It offers great healing, a bit of (and soon to be more) condi-removal, and superb damage. It’s still a work in progress, and i’m still making ever-so slight changes to it – e.g. 30/10/0/30/0 (+20% phantasm hp, instead of bleed on illusion crit) – when i have the time to test, in between work and school; but, i’m very confident with the build in its current standing. Enjoy!

I’ve been running with Sensotix’s sword/scepter/shatter (the S4) build, and came up with a variant which I find to be more useful for solo queue.

Edit: I didn’t name the build, so.. .let’s just call it the Nameless Build.

It’s a standard 20/20/0/0/30 shatter build, but with 3 notable differences.
Here is a link to the build:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAsfRl4zaqXUTmGb9ICqHaH49dkU0asWJF82FC-TsAg0CnImRNjbGzMyZszMEZRwMCA

Here are the notable differences:
1) Greatsword + Sword/Torch
– The torch provides great escaping and allows you to better sneak up on unwary foes.

2) Mantra of Recovery
3) Centaur Runes
– This combination provides you with 12 seconds of swiftness per heal, as well as procs swiftness when you charge Mantra of Recovery.

This provides nearly all the damage output of a standard shatter build, but with VERY high uptime for group swiftness. With Decoy + Torch 4 you have lots of opportunities to recharge your Mantra during a battle.

So this is a high damage, high stealth build with lots of swiftness. It’s decent for solo queue and semi-roaming between two points.

I threw something together randomly wanting to go condi again but also wanting to try scepter/sword cuz i never tried that combo before lol

So theoretically it would be something like a rhythm of getting in close with sword/torch and condi bursts, then dive out to catch a breath with double blocks and ranged pressure (including the sword phantasm pressure) and then head back in for a burst

Sigils, runes (i had perplex before, but its SOOOO mainstream! lol), first utility slot skill are up in the air. I feel like it’d be nice to have pistol in it but I want to get out of pistol lol

it’s theoretical, might have been tried already, idk i haven’t tried scepter/sword yet though so I can’t say what feel it has and what detailed tweaks i might make. I just want to use scepter/sword somehow lol xD

If someone wants to tell me how to tweak this and if they can get any results from this

http://intothemists.com/guides/1448-prismatic_duelist