Guild Wars 2

One of the hardest things about the Mesmer class (and possibly every other class) is crafting a solid build. By this, I don’t mean a “meta” build, but a build that runs smoothly and doesn’t trip over itself via traits/utilities/ skills. Sometimes it’s hard to decide what you want to do with your build or to find a specific goal. As a general rule, you want to make sure your build has…

• A stunbreak – Blink or Decoy are nearly mandatory for most competitive Mesmer builds for a reason: Blink allows you to reposition out of any threat and cross the Z-axis to teleport upwards. Decoy gives you combat advantage by making you unable to be seen or targeted which allows for either escapes or nasty bursts.

• A form of Damage Shatters, Phantasms, Interrupts, Conditions, maybe all of the above? One of the most important aspects of a deck is having a concrete way to deal damage. Focusing your traits on one or two of the above mentioned rather than trying to do a bit of everything goes a long way in trying to forge a solid build.

• A Condition Cleanse – Most Mesmer share a weakness to condition damage due to our awkward ways of removing condis. On average, Null Field is the go-to condi cleanse for most Mesmer as it’s the most reliable and consistent of all our cleansing options and rips boons from enemies but Mantra of Resolve, iDisenchanter and to a lesser extent Arcane Thievery can also work. Mender’s Purity is a common cleanse when paired with Mantra of Recovery or Sigils of Generosity/Purity. Runes of Lyssa with Mass Invisibility is also a decent option.

Let’s take a look at the sample build below:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNAsaRl0npDtdqxVNcrRiqxcqmQ9YZtGpCoklsNA-TZBFwACeAALODAVLDA4QAMf/BA
2/4/0/2/6 – Sword+Pistol/Greatsword ; Pirate Runes ; MoRecovery, Signet of Illusions, Mirror Images, Feedback.
Dom III – Dueling – IV, X Inspiration IV – Illusions II, VI, XI

This isn’t a terrible build, but it exhibits a lot of the mistakes people make when theorycrafting. Rather than flowing as one smooth unit where everything helps eachother in some form, the build instead takes traits that boost individual abilities. The problem here is that this spec lacks the cohesion that a well put together build has. With Deceptive Evasion and IP, is it a shatter build? Is Mirror Images enough of an escape? Will Mender’s Purity remove enough conditions and even if it does is the healing strong enough to sustain against power damage? These are the questions we tend to ask when testing, but it’s also important to remember that everyone plays differently. A good build will only carry a bad player so far, and a good player’s unconventional build may not be as bad as it seems on the surface.

- DOMINATION – III Empowered Illusions (Illusions do 15% more damage) Seeing as how the build uses Pistol and Greatsword, this trait isn’t a bad choice depending on personal playstyle, but it is a trait normally geared towards Phantasm-focused builds. It contradicts taking Deceptive Evasion, which is normally geared towards generating clones for shattering and could accidentally overwrite a phantasm if you have 3 out.

- DUELING – IV Blade Training (Increased Precision + 20% Sword/Spear Cooldowns) A pretty good trait to take when you lack anything else (or running dual swords) but would Phantasmal Fury (Phantasms have perma-Fury) have been a better choice? X Deceptive Evasion tends to work well in most builds by offering increased offense and defense via clone production. It allows you to dodge into your shatters, but those dodges spawn clones that could overwrite Phantasms if there are no clones to replace._

- INSPIRATION – VI Mender’s Purity (Cleanse 2 conditions on heal) This is a very good condition cleanse to have if you can fit it into a build. The question usually comes down to if it’s worth traiting into Inspiration to grab it. The other rub is in whether or not it’s worth running Mantra of Recovery to get the fullest out of this trait. I usually only run Mantra of Recovery if I’m running Harmonious or Restorative Mantras (Dueling XI / Inspiration X).

- ILLUSIONS – Of the traits taken for the Illusions line, two are shatter traits and VI Dazzling Glamours (Glamours Blind foes @ target location) works with Feedback. Again these traits emphasize that the player will be shattering often, yet maybe they just happen to reeaallyy like the skill Feedback and wanted to have it traited. Compounding Power is a good all-around option, especially when you have Deceptive Evasion traited. For shatters you’d usually want Illusionary Invigoration (Shatters recharge at 50% HP every 60s). While one minute does seem like a long time, this trait is actually very good for builds that expect to shatter often. Illusionary Elasticity can also be a hefty boost to the Greatsword’s (and staff to a lesser extent) damage by enhancing Mirror Blade (which would also be on a lower cooldown from 15 Illusions).

Now the thing is, the traits here aren’t really all that bad. Sure some things could be moved around a bit and the build would definitely struggle in higher-end tournament PvP but for an average player this particular build could work out pretty decently. The problem comes when we look at the utilities.

As a general rule, the most solid utilities to grab are BLINK, DECOY, & NULL FIELD. Mesmers are also valued in tournaments for their unique PORTAL ability, but this tends to take either a coordinated team or a talented, practiced Mesmer to pull off effectively.

• MANTRA OF RECOVERY Ether Feast is almost always going to outclass this heal unless it is traited with Harmonious Mantras+Mender’s Purity or Restorative Mantras. Harmionious+Menders makes it the best heal to remove conditions, but with Restorative it heals in an AoE on cast. On it’s own… no bueno.

• SIGNET OF ILLUSIONS – You’d be surprised at how often people use this signet improperly. Signet of Illusions works BEST in a Phantasm build and barely at all in a Shatter build. It’s not that the signet is bad for shatter-focused builds, but there is often a better option to take its place. In fact, if you’re not intending to run a full phantasm build then you’re likely not going to need this Signet.

• MIRROR IMAGES – While yes, this is a stunbreak, it is one of the worst stunbreaks to use defensively and much better for offense. If this is your only stunbreak then you’re either doing something wrong or are a pro and don’t need to read this guide.

• FEEDBACK – While Feedback can really hurt certain classes (Engineer and Ranger for example) and can be quite strong in the right build, it has a similar problem to Mantra of Recovery and Signet of Illusions in that it has a hard time competing for a precious utility slot. It’s companion Glamours, Null Field and Portal, tend to be more useful. It is rarely worth it to trait for this.

Despite these tips, it’s often the player that matters more than the build. Some people absolutely rely on their build to carry them (/cough Warriors /cough) while others can run around naked and be just as effective. It’s always good to start with a tried-and-true “meta” build to learn the mechanics of a class and to see how traits work together and what makes those traits work. If you’re anything like me, you won’t start with a meta build though.. you’ll bumble and mess around until you find something that works for you, then you’ll stubbornly resist advise/criticism because people don’t understand where you’re coming from and your build works for you… then slowly you’ll face tougher competition and get beat up and start wondering why, taking a second look at the build. Then, maybe, you’ll test out a meta build to see the competition you’re up against.

You stubborn fool!

So many people don’t like to look for builds or try other people’s builds because they feel it mars their individuality/creativity in some way. Pride tells us that we don’t need anyone else’s help, we’re smart and competent and it feels so much better to beat a meta build with a custom build. In my humble opinion, this pride is FALSE. This is the same false pride that tells us “oh I’ll work out later I’m already pretty strong.” Or “oh I don’t need to study for that test I’ll ace it anyway.” This is the pride that keeps us from reaching our full potential because we like to believe we’re already ‘good enough.’

If nothing else, never settle for ‘good enough’ if you can honestly say it’s not your best. Live, learn, and experience new things. See what works for everyone and it’ll crystalize what works for you all the clearer.

Will you continue to post here when you’re gone? :<

wait so can we post some of our ideas here? Either way, I have one so here it goes :P

I wanted to challenge people who’ve said a mesmer bunker is not viable. Obviously this probably wouldn’t work out well in tpvp but I had some success in soloq!

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNAsdWnsISpa2hGGoBzaGB3IM5UzpTnPLZSAA-TZQ5AAQZAA

Essentially it works as a phantasm build but uses them for both offense and defense.

Offense:
- phantasm have 15% more damage and fury. Also bleed on crit. When killed, punishes foes with condis
- decent power, so pretty good damage with bFrenzy

Defense:
- phantasms have more health (50% from signet, 20% from trait) and have retal.
- focus skills reflect projectiles
- sword traited, more uptime of bFrenzy which = more evasion uptime
- vigor on crit
- gain prot when gaining regen
- defensive staff skills such as chaos armor, phase retreat

Team Support and Utility
- phantasm grant perma regen to nearby allies
- Bounti Interruption grants lots of boons, which synergies with Sig of Inspiration to share boons with allies
- glamours traited to keep higher uptime of nullfield for more group condi removal
- chaos storm provides boons to allies and debuffs foes

Still working on runes/sigils/ammy. Originally had knights ammy but celest may be better haha.

chaosmike.8405:

wait so can we post some of our ideas here? Either way, I have one so here it goes :P

---

I wanted to challenge people who’ve said a mesmer bunker is not viable. Obviously this probably wouldn’t work out well in tpvp but I had some success in soloq!

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNAsdWnsISpa2hGGoBzaGB3IM5UzpTnPLZSAA-TZQ5AAQZAA

Essentially it works as a phantasm build but uses them for both offense and defense.

Offense:
- phantasm have 15% more damage and fury. Also bleed on crit. When killed, punishes foes with condis
- decent power, so pretty good damage with bFrenzy

Defense:
- phantasms have more health (50% from signet, 20% from trait) and have retal.
- focus skills reflect projectiles
- sword traited, more uptime of bFrenzy which = more evasion uptime
- vigor on crit
- gain prot when gaining regen
- defensive staff skills such as chaos armor, phase retreat

Team Support and Utility
- phantasm grant perma regen to nearby allies
- Bounti Interruption grants lots of boons, which synergies with Sig of Inspiration to share boons with allies
- glamours traited to keep higher uptime of nullfield for more group condi removal
- chaos storm provides boons to allies and debuffs foes

Still working on runes/sigils/ammy. Originally had knights ammy but celest may be better haha.

On death trait only applies to clones. Except for dueling 25.

Interesting topic and a good, quick analysis, Chaos.

Sadly, reading this just made me reconfirm to myself that so much of a mesmer build is predefined. As you said, 1/3 of your utility slots more or less must be Blink or Decoy. Another 1/3 must be a condi removal (unless you have Harmonious and Mender’s). That leaves us with 1 actually flexible utility slot.

As I have gotten more into a few other professions recently (mostly Guardian and Elementalist) I’ve realized that the build diversity is so tiny for mesmers. That’s the real shame of our profession, IMO.

Veruah.5302:

Interesting topic and a good, quick analysis, Chaos.

Sadly, reading this just made me reconfirm to myself that so much of a mesmer build is predefined. As you said, 1/3 of your utility slots more or less must be Blink or Decoy. Another 1/3 must be a condi removal (unless you have Harmonious and Mender’s). That leaves us with 1 actually flexible utility slot.

As I have gotten more into a few other professions recently (mostly Guardian and Elementalist) I’ve realized that the build diversity is so tiny for mesmers. That’s the real shame of our profession, IMO.

Eh i disagree, at least in pvp. With Ele as my other main, Ele’s are almost always pigeonholed into cantrip utilities (and maybe arcane shield).

But yea, every other class has more options for utilities depending on the build. And the fact that mesmer has literally the worst options for condi removal forces us to go out of the way for traits/utilities to be self-sufficient.

StickerHappy.8052:

On death trait only applies to clones. Except for dueling 25.

Oh shoot, didn’t notice that. Well I’d still be summoning clones via weapon skills. Otherwise, i’d just change it to the trait when u reduce incoming damage based on # of illusions out.

On another note, this build is great at guarding mid in Khyoto while enemy treb is firing thanks to b-frenzy lolol

@Me Games Ma: I can’t make any promises. =[ I dunno if I’ll even make it to the end of the year, but ya never know.

@Veruah: Well there’s some restrictions with every class, especially Elementalists. Most Eles are forced to grab atleast 20 water/arcane and run Armor of Earth among other skills, and there are maybe 3 different viable playstyles for Ele. Mesmer is somewhat utility-locked (granted some people like Alissah and Supcutie play with no condi removal at all. Such gangstas) , but we do have some flexibility in our traits and -through that- a surprising amount of diversity with our builds.

@Chaosmike: I’ve run a couple different types of bunkerish Mesmer, and it can definitely work. In checking out your build, I’m wondering if Signet of Inspiration is really a good choice here. With so much phantasm focus, and with a bunkering intent, it looks to me like you’d be better off with Phantasmal Defender. Defender absorbs 50% of damage from all attacks from 5 nearby targets, protecting you AND your other phantasms (or other players), it also has a much larger HP pool than other phants. Also, I don’t think Blade Training is the best use of your trait points for your goal. I’m thinking Empowered Illusions (Dom III) or Chaotic Interruption (Chaos XI) would serve better. Empowered speaks for itself, Chaotic would help your phantasms deal more damage by immobilizing opponents in C-storm and with your curtain pull (compounding power may also be a decent choice). You may wanna give Runes of Mercy or Melandru a look too.

Heres a link to the variant of your build that I would run.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNAsdWnsISpa2hGWqBzaGB3IM9UT1pLnPLVAA-TpgRABAs/wnlBAA

I chose Medic’s Feedback over Glamour Cooldowns because Medic’s Feedback is on a low (10s) cooldown and can actually be really useful in a teamfight since you don’t actually have to fully revive someone, just tap a downed body, especially paired with runes of Mercy and maybeee Dazzling Glamours.

Chaos Archangel.5071:

@Chaosmike: I’ve run a couple different types of bunkerish Mesmer, and it can definitely work. In checking out your build, I’m wondering if Signet of Inspiration is really a good choice here. With so much phantasm focus, and with a bunkering intent, it looks to me like you’d be better off with Phantasmal Defender. Defender absorbs 50% of damage from all attacks from 5 nearby targets, protecting you AND your other phantasms (or other players), it also has a much larger HP pool than other phants. Also, I don’t think Blade Training is the best use of your trait points for your goal. I’m thinking Empowered Illusions (Dom III) or Chaotic Interruption (Chaos XI) would serve better. Empowered speaks for itself, Chaotic would help your phantasms deal more damage by immobilizing opponents in C-storm and with your curtain pull (compounding power may also be a decent choice). You may wanna give Runes of Mercy or Melandru a look too.

Heres a link to the variant of your build that I would run.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNAsdWnsISpa2hGWqBzaGB3IM9UT1pLnPLVAA-TpgRABAs/wnlBAA

I chose Medic’s Feedback over Glamour Cooldowns because Medic’s Feedback is on a low (10s) cooldown and can actually be really useful in a teamfight since you don’t actually have to fully revive someone, just tap a downed body, especially paired with runes of Mercy and maybeee Dazzling Glamours.

Thanks for the feedback chaos! My idea was to play bunker but also support the team with boons using sigil of inspiration. I haven’t played this set in a while but from what I remember, I wasn’t using the active portion of this skill much…

so maybe you’re right in that the phantasm that minimizes damage could actually be a more effective defensive option. I’m excited to try it out!

My idea with blade training was to be able to using b-frenzy every 10 sec…but you have a point that getting 1 trait just to reduce the CD of 1 skill by 2 sec is kinda wasteful.

rune of melandru is a good idea to help me out with my lack of condi removal and no stun breakers. knights is a decent ammy, but i’ve been thinking that maybe i should run something like soldiers or valkyre and use sigil of intelligence for the crits to proc vigor. What do you think of that? I don’t know how phantasms work with that. The other sigils could be Energy or Battle.

I didn’t envision this to be a semi-lockdown build, but it can definitely work with the weapons i current have that can easily proc interrupts.

Overall great ideas! ima try this out soon

edit: it’s also nice that i’m maxed out in inspiration and chaos, which gives me a nice amount of defensive stats (toughness, vit, healing, and boon duration)