Guild Wars 2

Hi. I used Lazy Kai’s leveling build and recently hit 80. I’m decked in full berserker and am using the phantasm build that is lurking around these forums.

I tend to not like it too much. Too reliant on phantasms. I liked crapping out a clone on dodge.

I need some advice. I want to be able to do a shatter build but from what I’m told, shatter isn’t very effective anymore.

Goals are simple: PVE dungeons and events. Nothing else. Exploration.

Should I returnto Kai’s build? Is my armor ok for that build? What build does well with full berserkers? Right now I have a pretty high crit damage modifier from gear and runes/signets.

Kind of getting turned away from mesmer due to its uses at level 80. Had a blast from 20-79 but now I feel stuck to a build that does great burst DPS but that’s about it.

Suggestions?

Who told you that shatter spec isn’t very effective anymore? :o

I like using a 10/30/0/0/30 build but 20/20/0/0/30 does too.
Traits
Domination: I (and X if you put 20 in here)
Dueling: IV, X (if you have 30 here I like Far-Reaching Manipulations (I) a lot, because I almost always use Blink and the 1,200 range is awesome)
Illusions: I, XI (the 3rd trait is any you like, but I normally use VI)

Gear
For PvE I’d say full Berserker (what I am running too) with Ruby Orbs in the Armor
Weapons are either GS & Sword/Focus or Sword/Focus & Sword/X if you don’t need to range. Put Bloodlust into the weapon you use the most. I like Force & Accuracy on S/F ^^

Shatter builds are still great for DPS, but, that is pretty much all they do – and mesmer’s strength in dungeon is their ability to DPS while simultaneously supporting.

If you want to try something new in duneons, you could try running an inspiration support/DPS hybrid such as:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAsdRl4zCoHRzqGaNJipC92pHQnztckKoalUgbXIA-jwxAYLioRKSEJLAJviox2GKiGruGT5SEVLEgo1A-e

The mantra heals provide unparalleled healing-over-time both for yourself when needed, and also heals your allies at the same time (~5-6k per rotation), traitted focus and feedback ensure you always have reflects on hand to cover your party and your phantasms apply regeneration to the front line.

Full zerker and high crit rate ensures you pump out solid AoE DPS and once you have your perception stacks up combined with perma-fury your phanties will crit virtually every hit.

If you need more defence you can switch out the GS for a staff to provide defensive boons to your party, while you can remove signet of inspiration for another support skill as the situation demands (I often switch it out for illusion of life, and swap the chaos trait to manipulation cooldown if I need get people up fast or if the party is a bit squishy), or switch out mantra of pain if your party doesn’t need the extra heals and replace it with arcane thievery to steal yet more boons to give to your allies

Some might call the build unorthodox but it’s by far the most effective support builds I’ve run to date, cutting a good line between support and robust DPS and keeps open a lot of options for fine tuning to suit specific situations.

I find mesmer strength lies in providing reflection for the party so perhaps try something like 20/20/0/30/0. Then you can have curtain, iwarden and feedback all reflecting projectiles, furthermore you can trait lower cd and longer up time in inspiration.

I love it when i see those lighting balls from the harpies fractal reflect back at them

Sorry I forgot to mention that I do really enjoy supporting allies in dungeons. I have an 80 elementalist who usually roles staff support (air/water/arcane).

No one in particular told me shatter was out but that’s the vibe I was getting from these forums lately! :P

Thanks very much for the advice! I really like all of these suggestions.

Kagato.5390:

Sorry I forgot to mention that I do really enjoy supporting allies in dungeons. I have an 80 elementalist who usually roles staff support (air/water/arcane).

No one in particular told me shatter was out but that’s the vibe I was getting from these forums lately! :P

Thanks very much for the advice! I really like all of these suggestions.

Shatter is actually just as good as it always has been. That being said, shatter has never been good for high level PvE play. Phantasm builds are better because they tend to go into the inspiration tree, holding the strong support options that mesmers have.

My personal build for PvE can be found here: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Guide-PvE-Supporting-Phantasm-Build/first

Recently I tried to step aside from playing only shatter variations, tried phantasm build and guess what – those poor fellas still dissipate in one-two hits even with all traited for their survival. Better leave phantasms shatterfodder.

I still prefer the Reflection/Phantasm build, now with more Crit + Crit Dmg: 10/30/0/30/0.

If you want MORE reflection, avoding IC is a bad idea.

0/20/0/25/25 is my fave….has crit and long reflection uptime and more reliable too.

I tried 10/30/0/30/0 and 1 day was enough to understad its limits in PvE for me.

You should try it for yourself and see what is it that you do and then focus on that. It’s a bit bland as an answer but it works for me.

What I did was look at my play-style. I don’t do level 48 fractals and dungeons I find all too easy (granted, I never stuck my foot in Arah, so again this involves my above mentioned ‘what do I do with it?’). Which means I commit the sacrilege of saying I don’t find reflects useful and find them clunky (sure, I can put down a Warden/Temporal Curtain, but I need to switch to a focus and… sword? Go into melee or stop attacking altogether? Scepter? And with Feedback lasting only a few seconds I get the same Confusion vibe from it out of blocking just one or two hits and then a hefty CD).

I am certain high level fractal runners will hiss at me, but, I’ve been playing the game since it came out and I don’t feel I’ve won, or lost, a dungeon thanks to my reflects. Either my party can dodge at the right times or I will save them once and then they will fail the next time.

In practical terms this means what? It means my play-style involves the GS, throwing the iZerberker and Mirror Blade as often as I can and then shattering them when I have three out and both Mirror Blade and iZerker are almost out of CD (it coincides with Mind Wrack’s CD).

So I built around this.

• Twenty points in Dom to get +15% illusion damage and 20% Mind Wrack damage.
• Twenty-five points in Illusion to get +3% damage per illusion, one extra bounce (it did a nice 2.7k, 2.6k, 2.7k crit on a veteran Ice Elemental when I did Jormag yesterday. It impressed me to get almost 8k out of it considering someone also got 9 stacks of Might out of it and the 9 stacks of Vuln and it recharges in 6 seconds) and reach IC since it impacts so many different skills.
• I had to sacrifice something for it… and after much pondering it was my clone-on-dodge. I miss it. It’s flashy, it’s pure Mesmer, it’s great to shatter quickly, but it does not impact that play-style I mentioned. So only 15 points in Duelist to mainly grab Vigor-on-Crit, Fury-for-Phantasms and Sharper Images to add a bit more damage (because of said play-style I noticed I rarely am close enough to use Illusionary Persona, the strong contender for those last five points).

Voila. This is more me explaining my reasoning than the best build for dungeons. I suggest simply to follow that reasoning yourself and build according to how you play… which may include Reflects, heals, etc. It is your play-style after all.

Its more about jumping in and out of melee while not bing too vulnerable.
Also iwarden is possibly the phantasm that hits the hardest and on top of that you get reflect for more damage

With my build you add some stacks of bleeding also.

Reflect build is the best for dungeon…..i used shatter for a lot…when i changed i never thougt to go back.

I find the Warden very very very situational. Either a mob moves and it spins uselessly in place or it gets one shot since it lingers in melee instead of darting past like the iZerker does. Plus the Warden has a very hefty CD despite all the cooldown reducing traits.

In exchange of that the Warden is our hardest hitting phantasm, for sure, and on world bosses I favor him since it involves a lot of beating on a huge sack of HP that does not hit back.

But I am not trying to convince you, LordByron, and not even the OP. After… how many months has the game been out? Eight? Nine? I’ve been playing mesmers for… ::checks:: … 2100 hours out of 2900 account wide hours. I’m not saying I am good and right and you are wrong, only that I know what I like and can build around it instead of using what fits other people’s play-style.

LordByron.8369:

If you want MORE reflection, avoding IC is a bad idea.

I thought the IC nerf was going to make the build unviable, but tried it anyway and surprisingly don’t miss IC like I thought I would.

With newly buffed Phantasms + Persisting Images + Signet of Illusions, most of the time they last long enough for their cooldown to expire before they die. Many times I actually have to check myself from spamming Illusion skills – a pre-patch habit – so I don’t overwrite ones already out. Of course that’s somewhat encounter-dependent too.

But overall I’m happy to be able get all 300 precision + 30% crit damage from Dueling, plus all the Dueling and Inspiration traits I want (I used to go 20 and 25 respectively and would toggle different traits in each line for different encounters, don’t have to do that anymore).

Overall I’m actually happier with this new build so far than the pre-patch ones.

Kanto.1659:

I find the Warden very very very situational. Either a mob moves and it spins uselessly in place or it gets one shot since it lingers in melee instead of darting past like the iZerker does. Plus the Warden has a very hefty CD despite all the cooldown reducing traits.

actually not.
With 0/20/0/25/25 you get crit chance, precision and stuff.
You get a low CD iwarden that makes it reliable

You get iwarden and even iduelist attack rate increased.

The HP buff is useless…in MOST situations phantasms still get oneshot.

Don t forget that sword is your main weapon in this build and iLeap is what you need to keep iWarden effective.

And when you get 2-3 iwarden (or iDuelist) in place your dps gets huge.

As already discussed, giving up IC is bad mostly because:
1) your phantasm die
2) mob die (thus phantasm)
3) if target manage to move away.
4) more reflect
5) 2 iwarden better than 1 iwarden so EVEN if it never dies, you get 3 up faster.

Like I said, I’m not trying to convince anyone. My experience is simply different than yours, LordByron. I find my phantasms and clones living long enough to reach having three and Mirror Blade + iZerker to recharge at the same time that Mind Wrack does (12 seconds) so that putting a new iZerker and throwing another Mirror Blade would just overwrite them, So I shatter instead.

What I do works for me and my content, what you do works for you and your content.

I’m also quite happy with a zerkerhealer build that does pretty much the same, but ignores shattering and focuses on Mantra of Pain spam to do a 2.6k heal every 5 seconds, but despite warning a party about it I am the one who needs to run after them to use it since they will not stay close to me. 2.6k is nothing grandiose, but constantly spamming it will top HP.

But, bosses still one shot and we must dodge so it enters the realm of gimmicks. Fun to have, fun to do, helpful, undoubtly, but doing it or not doing it will hardly sway the chances of success if the party is not dodging, and if they are dodging they have their personal heals and don’t need us.

Skoteinos.4213:

Let me suggest you a Phantasm Build for Fractals/Dungeons, Best at DPS and Great for Support, so that you can have all options available

Build Video Link : http://youtu.be/2HjQhhPUmog

Gameplay Video Using This Build : http://youtu.be/9jsoxUmVBwM

I believe you’re pretty much spamming this in every thread asking for builds.

Read my original post. It states that I am actually USING your current build in the first two sentences.

To update the rest: went back to shatter build and am doing just fine. Great damage but not much support. That mantra build looks REALLY intriguing to me so I’ll give it a shot tomorrow.

Every single pve encounter in this game is best dealt with damage, while best support on some encounters is reflect&absorb. Pure support mesmer has no place in this, it will fall back to useless tier pretty much every time, just like support ranger, condition engineer, condition necromancer and support thief. Warriors do damage better than anyone out there. Guardians support like 10 times your wildest dreams are. But what place has mesmer in this duo? The answer is unique utility and vigor sharing, which doesn’t require deep inspiration. In fact, 10 inspiration is more than you need most of the time, because un-traited warden is better than traited.
And I’ll explain that little more, because this community was meant to share tricks and cantrips for everyone(and that curious developer who lurks in shadows and will fix this asap, no doubt).
There are some projectiles which cannot be reflected, nor absorbed, for example tom’s whirling move and rabsovich’s wave of instagib. Untraited warden eats those, while traited warden doesn’t. Until they change that behavior, in some cases it’s more efficient to not take focus enhancing trait – which saves you precious 10 points to spend elsewhere, perhaps even in domination.
Surely you could just get the hell inside tom and find that magical precise spot where you completely ignore his whirl and melee all day as you wish, or get on that pipe if dealing with rabsovich, but those are just obviously screaming exploit, while warden is… weee, being helpful? (:

So tried the mantra build and just want to say…holy hell is it useful. Especially in PUGs with a lot of squishies. My DPS didn’t drop too much, either, which was quite surprising. Would recommend it (as linked earlier in the thread):

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAsdRl4zCoHRzqGaNJipC92pHQnztckKoalUgbXIA-jwxAYLioRKSEJLAJviox2GKiGruGT5SEVLEgo1A-e

Winds.3087:

There are some projectiles which cannot be reflected, nor absorbed,

i know that since forever….i tested all of them in fotms and posted time ago.
It happens ONLY 2 times in the game <.< at that time you just switch your trait from VIII to IX for longer glamour duration.

In EACH other fractal the trait is gold and improving hugely your dps.
Also reducing iwarden casting time ._.

Reflect is the main reason why i use phantasm and not shatter.

Kagato.5390:

So tried the mantra build and just want to say…holy hell is it useful. Especially in PUGs with a lot of squishies. My DPS didn’t drop too much, either, which was quite surprising. Would recommend it (as linked earlier in the thread):

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAsdRl4zCoHRzqGaNJipC92pHQnztckKoalUgbXIA-jwxAYLioRKSEJLAJviox2GKiGruGT5SEVLEgo1A-e

Yeah, tbh it’s one of my favorites too. Full berserker gear + Regen granting + 2.6k HP heals every 5 seconds? That’s pretty good. And though we need 3 seconds to recharge the mantra, which means three seconds not attacking, we can take this in consideration with our cooldowns and wait for the iZerker or Mirror Image to come out of CD and use them. The loss of three seconds not auto-attacking are made up by the fact Mantra of Pain charges can be used at the same time with other skills and crit for 2k upwards, not a great loss in actual DPS.

LordByron.8369:

i know that since forever….i tested all of them in fotms and posted time ago.
It happens ONLY 2 times in the game <.< at that time you just switch your trait from VIII to IX for longer glamour duration.

In EACH other fractal the trait is gold and improving hugely your dps.
Also reducing iwarden casting time ._.

Reflect is the main reason why i use phantasm and not shatter.

Get a competent guardian in your static already so you can trait whatever you like. I used to run shatters with 20 inspiration, then changed it for 10 inspiration and never even noticed any difference in support department.

Kanto.1659:

Kagato.5390:

So tried the mantra build and just want to say…holy hell is it useful. Especially in PUGs with a lot of squishies. My DPS didn’t drop too much, either, which was quite surprising. Would recommend it (as linked earlier in the thread):

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAsdRl4zCoHRzqGaNJipC92pHQnztckKoalUgbXIA-jwxAYLioRKSEJLAJviox2GKiGruGT5SEVLEgo1A-e

Yeah, tbh it’s one of my favorites too. Full berserker gear + Regen granting + 2.6k HP heals every 5 seconds? That’s pretty good. And though we need 3 seconds to recharge the mantra, which means three seconds not attacking, we can take this in consideration with our cooldowns and wait for the iZerker or Mirror Image to come out of CD and use them. The loss of three seconds not auto-attacking are made up by the fact Mantra of Pain charges can be used at the same time with other skills and crit for 2k upwards, not a great loss in actual DPS.

Question for you, though.

I see on the build that signet of inspiration is used. Not really sure why. It isn’t a mantra so doesn’t contribute to healing. Yeah, it provides a random boon and can be activated to give boons to allies but…meh. Doesn’t seem that useful in comparison to something like nullfield.

Maybe I’m not looking at it the right way. I know inspiration is usually used to double stack buffs (like in CoF P1). Is this the intent?

Kagato.5390:

I see on the build that signet of inspiration is used. Not really sure why. It isn’t a mantra so doesn’t contribute to healing.

In a good team (ie. a guardian and/or warrior with banners) you’ll hopefully be getting quite a few boons onto yourself, particularly might and protection. Signet of inspiration can then be popped to reflect the boons back onto the rest of your team.

Take for instance you’re in a team with a warrior and guardian, AoE boons from the rest of the team has provided everyone (including you) with:

• 8 seconds protection
• 12 seconds of regen
• 12 stacks of might.

You then pop signet of inspiration, and now everyone else in the team has:

• 16 seconds protection
• 24 seconds of regen
• 24 stacks of might

This’d also be a great time to pop time warp, so everyone attacks 50% faster while their tanked up on might. Of course if you’re in a team with a lack of boons then it’d be wise to switch it out, as I say in my original overview signet of inspiration represents an optional skill (Which is where the beauty of taking 10 in chaos comes in, because chaos has many traits that benefit your alternatives like 20% faster manipulation cooldowns)

Prior to the nerf chaos armour could provide quite a dearth of boons to share too but this is no longer the case with it’s 1 second ICD

What the one above me said. Obviously slot according to group composition. But with almost all compositions someone is throwing lots of boons around. Be it Might, Fury, Protection, Regen or whatever. Keeping an eye on your boons for those moments lets you share all your boons to the rest of your party. You won’t get them, but if everyone had 10 Might they now have 20.