Guild Wars 2

Title says the general purpose, looking to see if there is such a thing as a viable phanstasm Mesmer setup for WvW and some sort of pve.

Curious if sword/sword and sword/shield would be viable? that seems like a lot of blocks for wvw, along with sme strong phants, possibly sword/sword and sword/pistol ??

Been out of the loop for a while, and don’t really wanna run the metabattle cookie cutter builds, so looking for some advice.

Any and all help is welcome!

Bump – still looking for some help

Sword phanta is difficult for WvW since it’s melee, but sure it could work. I’d definitely go with illusions and chrono trait line for stronger phantas and as for weps I’d go sword+pistol and greatsword because you’re always gonna want a ranged option, it’s also a good supplement to phanta damage. You could potentially go scepter instead of sword too, the #3 has decent damage and you also have a block on #2.

The trouble with phantasm builds is that phants are easily kited (endless running, never attacking). They’re also not burst heavy in and of themselves. WvW’s big wide open spaces allows enemies to disengage if feeling overwhelmed, and phants are an “obvious” presence.

The best phant setups are also weaker to cleansing.

My prefered setup for phants has always been Phantlock, combining phantasms with lockdown

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAsaRlknhG1YZawGNwtGLnGF629GfHZAsALX90mtbLA-TpAOgAA7PEXGAA

So pretty much kite kite kite, use misdirection while summoning phants. Let the phants prick at your target. When the target closes try to land your standard F1 shatter burst (best with GS) under a MoD daze/stun. Then let your phants get their free hit off on their resummon. Save your CS to double up on Mass Invis as you’ll want to sit in stealth and let your cd’s trick down.

There’s a few variations you can go with. Ive run this one in PvP, but WvW is a different ball game.

Thank you for the replies both of you!

While i know phant setups are not the most optimal for WvW, i generally speaking just enjoy the unique factor. i know i know, is being unique really worth not being always “viable?” well in my head, i enjoy filling a niche role, whatever that role is, i wanna be the best i can at it.

Thanks for the build, that is honestly exactly what i am looking for,. i enjoy having lots of cc’s and lockdowns, and imo if someone runs away, ill call that a victory in my head!

As far as weapons, i have actually been toying with sword/sword and scepter/pistol as a combo atm, and really enjoy how scepter/pistol feels. sword/sword gets a bit trickier, because in my own mind im a ranged kite kind of player, and its been a hard go trying to find what fits me best.

The problem is really what you’ll be fighting, the following will cleave out phantasms with no thought at all:

Scrapers, most specs
Power DH
Staff thief
All necros due to AoE nature
Most eles and they can face tank the shatter
Most warriors but in particular power will instakill phantasms as well as procing lvl3 adrenal health
Revenants but can help absorb precision strikes
Rangers will out sustain and kite you.

Basically you just don’t have favourable match ups. Fortunately a lot of people really suck in WvW but against decent roamers you probably won’t win and won’t enjoy seeing them passively shutting your build down.

Ahh, very good points made there @Apharma – would u suggest more of a shatter setup? is there some sort of viable setup using scepter/pistol ?? im really enjoying scepter, even as a power setup the number 3 hits effing hard. lol

Caffeine.6724:

Ahh, very good points made there @Apharma – would u suggest more of a shatter setup? is there some sort of viable setup using scepter/pistol ?? im really enjoying scepter, even as a power setup the number 3 hits effing hard. lol

Scepter/pistol combo is amazing. I ran it before HoT, now I returned after couple months of not playing and it’s still great. I just can’t play with anything else. You can run power/condi build with it, or just condi. Pistol #4 combined with Scepter #3 bursts people down with Carrion amulet. As secondary weap you can use Staff or anything else.

Caffeine.6724:

Ahh, very good points made there @Apharma – would u suggest more of a shatter setup? is there some sort of viable setup using scepter/pistol ?? im really enjoying scepter, even as a power setup the number 3 hits effing hard. lol

Generally I would treat phantasms more like disposable one use damage than anything else, let them get off their first attack if possible but otherwise they’re shatter fodder. I certainly don’t go into a fight expecting them to be around long against the above.

Having said that I am using chronophantasma in my current WvW build for roaming, not very good against warriors because they really cleave everything out but works on others to keep pressure up after bursting. The resummon allows me to use it as initial burst if I want and still get an extra attack off when it’s resummoned. Catches a few off guard on power Mesmer but generally it is nowhere near as face roll as a lot of classes/specs atm. Certainly would say condition shatter is better at the moment for roaming.

Building around phantasm has another huge downfall in WvW roaming: they can be “reset” by opponent. Pretty much every build you see in wvw specs around escaping when outnumbered, same abilities can be used when things go south for any 1v1 fights as well. Unfortunately our phantasm has little chasing ability, so a lot of the times you’ll see people escape from your grasp.

Regardless of how often you find staff thieves in WvW (which I find minority in my experience), You’ll often see standard D/P thief withdraw away if they find too many phantasm. They’ll reset and come back to haunt you after your phantasm stared at them in distance and disappear.

Makes sense, all points seem to say that i’d be better off with nearly any and all mesmer specs other than a phant setup. Here’s an odd question..

Is there such a thing as a power build that uses scepter?

I know thats an odd question, i just like the midrange/range fight of the scepter, but dont generally care for condi’s, so is this even a possible option? maybe scepter/shield with gs, or sword/torch?

I’d even consider scepter/torch or something. i know. im asking for too much.. lol

Caffeine.6724:

Makes sense, all points seem to say that i’d be better off with nearly any and all mesmer specs other than a phant setup. Here’s an odd question..

Is there such a thing as a power build that uses scepter?

I know thats an odd question, i just like the midrange/range fight of the scepter, but dont generally care for condi’s, so is this even a possible option? maybe scepter/shield with gs, or sword/torch?

I’d even consider scepter/torch or something. i know. im asking for too much.. lol

You could do that. You lose your iframe from the sword but you have a ranged option which kind of makes up for it. This would probably be the only case where I’d consider using a shield but I still probably wouldn’t.

When it comes to building your char what really matters is that YOU can make it work. Don’t worry about what Pro League players are doing or the personal preference of anyone else – If you can make it work then it works, doesn’kitten Just have to test it out.

For me personally I’d go scepter+pistol and GS here, I just like the GS far too much to ditch it for a sword in this situation – It gives stomp protection, it has decent damage, it’s ranged, it has a good clone spawning attack etc. Point is, it works for me. Is it optimal or the best way to play? I don’t know and I really don’t care, I enjoy it and I make it work.

Obviously as you start facing better and better players you will be forced out of certain… let’s call them “sub-optimal” ways of playing because they exploit the weaknesses they bring with them. But until you hit that point – Do what you want

Thanks a bunch Crowley, that makes total sense, and i think im going to follow that what you’ve semi suggested. I do enjoy the greatsword, was just worried that the sword mainhand would be considered a must. I enjoy Scepter/pistol the most thats for sure. i like the range, and the cc, and gs will only further make that work for me. I think i’ll put together some sort of shatter build and run those weapons and see what happens. i haven’t been back long enough to fully grasp whats good and what isnt, so i suppose starting kittenter ( im at least semi familiar ) is a good place to begin

Here’s some old phantrupt (meta has changed, also things have been buffed/changed etc since)

There’s a bunch of vids on my channel if you’re wanting more. This one might also be relevant
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMJg3krWBcQ

More phantrupt
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJKcXiuIJ1A

Think some of these are pre chrono

Thank you Ross Biddle! those are some amazing references! If i were to build for scepter/pistol and greatsword as second set, would u suggest i focus on chrono line, with maybe a focus on mantras? and the one that gives daze a chance to stun? Sorry i dont know the trait lines, as i am not at home, so can’t reference anything.

This is a quick build i put together.. thoughts? possible changes?

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAraBWONKyAYBWu6ota32znIKuOA

Caffeine.6724:

Thank you Ross Biddle! those are some amazing references! If i were to build for scepter/pistol and greatsword as second set, would u suggest i focus on chrono line, with maybe a focus on mantras? and the one that gives daze a chance to stun? Sorry i dont know the trait lines, as i am not at home, so can’t reference anything.

This is a quick build i put together.. thoughts? possible changes?

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAraBWONKyAYBWu6ota32znIKuOA

Yeah you could try that. I think I started Season 3 with this setup (was running sig trait and stun sig too initially)

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAraRlknhG1YZawGNwtGLnGV90mtbL629GfHZAsALHA-TpAOAB+WGAg9HAA

Dom + the stuns allows your phants to do their thing, while you get in an F1 for a proper burst.