I look forward to this community project guide! Not only does it gives new mesmers some tips and guides, but also gives all of us some insight and different point of views of things that we may only looked on one side.
Here’s my input of the weapons and their skills:
MH Sword – 4/5
Great power-based, one-handed weapon, but is melee-oriented (so range mesmers may not like this.
Scepter – 2/5
I primarily use scepter and honestly, I feel that it’s clunky and unfinished. Anet is slowly turning it into a condition-based weapon, but it’s still having some power-based damage. I love the torment condition and I hope autoattack can inflict conditions (chill, torment, confusion, poison) and increase its attack speed. CI needs to be faster. Rating may change in the future, assuming Anet’s fixing this weapon that needs lots of love.
Staff – 4/5
Great defensive weapon that seems more condition-based, but surprisingly has power. Only issues are thakittens autoattack is slow and Phase Retreat can teleport you inside an object or behind a wall. Love Chaos Storm!
Greatsword – 3/5
Unexpected, brutal weapon to use on a caster and is our fastest autoattacker that is power-based and ranged. Mirror Blade grants might to nearby allies while the autoattack gives highest damage the farther away from target you are, making it rather ironic (at least iBerserker can get it). Mind Stab is fast, but has a small AoE and strips 1 boon; this is probably the worst skill of the greatsword and would be better if it has bigger AoE and/or not ground targeted (instead target and nearby foes). Phantasm is an AoE beast, now that it’s fixed and Illusionary Wave is a nice AoE push and interrupt, giving the mesmer a breather to move or knock a stealthed thief out of Shadow Refuge (mwehehehe).
OH Sword – 4/5
Gives nice defense and offense regardless of mainhand choice. Block and creating a clone and deal damage is nice. iSwordsman is a beastly spiker to a target.
Pistol – 4/5
I like using this weapon with both mainhands. iDuelist is also an excellent spike phantasm and can easily stack bleeds via Sharper Images trait. Magic Bullet is a nice CC, but can tag extra mobs that you may not want; and if it’s only 1 target, it only gets the stun and not the others. Both skills are only 900 (unless traited) where as most others are 1200.
Focus – 4/5
My least used off-hand but can also with either mainhands. It does require a bit of careful placing for Temporal Curtain/Into the Void. iWarden is a good AoE phantasm dps with one problem – it’s stationary. Its weapon trait makes the focus extremely useful.
Torch – 3/5
I’m starting to like using this weapon with scepter and MH sword, but it could use some buffs. It seems more condition oriented. Nice stealth and has our only combo blast finisher. iMage needs lots of love; perhaps inflicting another condition and boon and reducing its cooldown and/or raise its attack speed would make it more appealing. The weapon trait with removing condition helps free a utility slot.
he makes amazing gw2 fanart and does commissions
