Guild Wars 2

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAW8al4zKqXQTjGbNJh5D9+MDoHdSFUdJF4O3A-jEDBYfIYLCyEEI0HQECBO9hIjNBCqMsIasabYKXoaYIqYCySBExyI-w

This is my WvW roaming and dueling build. It’s a phantasm build with lockdown utilities mixed in.

This build was designed under several concepts that I thought would work nicely. The first concept is that the phantasm playstyle is very relaxed and can easily mix in another playstyle. The second is that lockdown easily compliments the phantasm playstyle (Dazes and stuns can act as active defenses for phantasms as well as leave the enemy open for phantasm attacks). And the third is that lockdown doesn’t need to be traited to be taken advantage of.

TRAITS

Domination

Empowered Illusions (III): I chose this trait because it would boost phantasm damage. Although it can be switched for Dom II (Halting Strike).

Dueling

Phantasmal Fury (II): For extra DPS. Good alternatives are Mantra Mastery (VI) and Blade Training (IV). Mantra Mastery means more healing over time and more dazes. Blade Training for more Blurred Frenzy.

Duelist’s Discipline (IX): Lets you cast iDuelist and Magic Bullet more frequently. I wouldn’t switch this out.

Chaos

Illusionary Defense (IV): More survivable and really the only trait worth taking for this build.

Inspiration

Mender’s Purity (IV): This got buffed so we remove 4 conditions with Mantra of Resolve. It’s the primary condition cleanse for the build. MoR also has a fairly short cd for a heal.

Persisting Images (V): Phantasms live longer. If phantasms live longer, there’s a higher chance of them pouring out more DPS.

WEAPONS

Sword/Pistol: Sword mainhand is just such a useful weapon. With a power focused stat set, it also deals good damage. Blurred Frenzy can be used both defensively and offensively. Illusionary Leap is a great mixup tool as well. Pistol has a strong phantasm and a very good CC.

Staff: This is just an amazing weapon overall. Chaos Storm has saved me so many times. It provides an RNG aoe daze and can output some conditions (Most useful might be poison as it can slowly tip the balance against certain bunker builds). Phase Retreat is a great defensive tool allowing you to teleport even while dazed or stunned. The phantasm can deal a lot of damage too! The defensive utility of this weapon makes up for the loss of blink.

EQUIPMENT

Mixture of Cavalier/Knight/Valkyrie/Berserker: The damage output of this mixture is good while not being complete glass.

Sigils: Paralyzation for extra stun/daze duration. Energy for more dodges. I usually keep another weapon with a sigil of bloodlust on it.

Runes: Traveler runes for extra speed. The crit dmg and +all stats is very welcome too. Alternatives are speed runes, centaur runes and possibly mesmer runes.

UTILITIES

Decoy: Your stunbreaker, target breaker and stealth. This had more utility than blink in my eyes which is why it’s on my bar instead of Blink.

Signet of Domination: There isn’t a lot of constant conditions that are put out to benefit from Signet of Domination. The passive just boosts staff damage slightly. However, that 3 second stun is awesome! If there’s a utility that can be switched out, it would be this. Alternatives would be Arcane Thievery, Blink, or condition cleanse if needed.

Mantra of Distraction: I can’t play mesmer without this anymore. It’s just amazing. Interrupting heals whenever you see a blue aura or keeping enemies from wiping out your phantasms (I interrupt a guardian after he uses the GS pull).

HOW TO USE

Cast phantasms, kite the enemy, lockdown key skills. Depending on the class (Necro), you can be more aggressive with lockdown. Watch for stability.

STRENGTHS
- Strong in 1v1 scenarios
- Lots of lockdown to prevent KEY enemy actions
- Stuns make chasing enemies easier
- Strong at kiting players (Phase Retreat, Illusionary Leap, Speed Boost from runes)
- Can provide a little group utility with Chaos Storm and locking down key targets
- Even if Lockdown isn’t working, can fall back on Phantasm Playstyle

WEAKNESSES
- Weak in large scale fights (Phantasms die too fast)
- Stability prevents lockdown (Can be worked around with sword auto and arcane thievery, if slotted in)
- Blind can prevent phantasms from being cast. Need LOS and a target to cast phantasms. (You can waste a heal or a daze while casting a phantasm to get rid of blind)

Personally I prefer Shattered Concentration for lockdown builds.

this is NOT a lockdown build. 2 Weaponsets that daze doesn’t make a lockdown build. you did’nt choose any of the ld-traits, so you neither punish your opponent nor you get benefits for an interrupt/daze.

But looks like a viable phantasm variant.

blutstein.2468:

this is NOT a lockdown build

I don’t agree. While I see your point about the build not having any of the traditional lockdown traits, the OP states that lock down is just a utility aspect of this build. Illusion of vulnerability is actually a nice minor trait which procs on interrupt, of which there is a decent amount. Also I don’t believe you need the lock down traits to denote a build lock down. If they’re being dazed/stunned often, well I think that speaks for itself.

@recursive, interesting trait choices combined with utilities for a pretty unique build. A few thoughts:

• Have you thought about gearing for more precision in order to free up dueling adept for either blade training or mantra mastery (since we can take that in adept now)?
• How much is persisting images getting you? I’m wondering if restorative mantras would be a better choice, making you more survivable due to your use of two mantras in the build.
• I’m curious why you chose mantra of recovery vs. the standard ether feast. You might even get some good use out of the new signet with this build (especially if you took RM).
• I get why you went 15 into Chaos, but what if you could replace that passive defense with restorative mantras, take 5 from Chaos and go 30 into inspiration which would enable you to take persisting images and RM? Another option would be to take the 15 you put into chaos and throw them into illusions for IC. Quicker CD’s on phase retreat and iLeap makes you that much more slippery.
• Finally, have you played with halting strike vs empowered illusions? I have to imagine you’re interrupting often, half the time AoE (Chaos Storm/MB), and that trait could help with 1vMany scenarios.

blutstein.2468:

this is NOT a lockdown build. 2 Weaponsets that daze doesn’t make a lockdown build. you didn’t choose any of the ld-traits, so you neither punish your opponent nor you get benefits for an interrupt/daze.

But looks like a viable phantasm variant.

If I daze/interrupt the opponent, that still dazes/interrupts the opponent and I still punish/benefit from it. I might not immobilize them with CI or put out more vulnerability than a typical lockdown build but it still prevents skill usage and can punish an opponent. And let’s not forget that I’m also using lockdown utilities.

skcamow.3527:

@recursive, interesting trait choices combined with utilities for a pretty unique build.

Thank you! I appreciate you taking the time to look at my build!

skcamow.3527:

Have you thought about gearing for more precision in order to free up dueling adept for either blade training or mantra mastery (since we can take that in adept now)?

The mantra mastery has been something I’ve been playing around with. I use it in PvP since I can’t min/max my precision there and I have too much. I really like it which is why I wrote it out as being a good alternative. It works well with mender’s purity (More MoR, more conditions removed!). The extra Daze and HP/S is nice as well.

As for Blade Training… I don’t think it’s really needed. I mainly use the sword defensively so I don’t need it off cd right away with all the defenses available to this build (Phase Retreat, Chaos Storm, Daze/Stun, Distortion, Decoy). Illusionary Leap is something I use defensively as a 2nd teleport. Though I do use iLeap sometimes to attempt to strip boons (clone, yay) if I can. There’s a lot of active defenses through daze/stun that having sword on cd longer isn’t bothersome.

skcamow.3527:

How much is persisting images getting you? I’m wondering if restorative mantras would be a better choice, making you more survivable due to your use of two mantras in the build.

I did look at that briefly. My original impression was that it wasn’t a significant change but I honestly haven’t done anything extensive with it. I thought of using it under the idea that it can keep my phantasms alive through healing to make up for the lack of persisting images. Although, against some of the better opponents I’ve faced, the extra HP can be the difference between a 1 or 2 hit kill. It might not seem like a big deal but you can save phantasms within that time frame. If a guardian does an illusion wipe through GS pull and GS whirl, persisting images can buy you the time to interrupt the whirl before it does significant damage.

I will take a look at it some more when I slot in Mantra Mastery.

skcamow.3527:

I’m curious why you chose mantra of recovery vs. the standard ether feast. You might even get some good use out of the new signet with this build

I have to say that Signet of the Ether isn’t going to work too well with this build. Good opponents always try to destroy your phantasms. Without Deceptive Evasion or a way to easily and constantly upkeep as many clones/phantasms possible, you’re not going to get the most out of the heal. The 35 second cd is painful to be without a heal and, while it provides a nice burst, it impacts survivability a lot.

Now for Mantra of Recovery or Ether Feast, I went with Mantra of Recovery because it has two casts as opposed to Ether Feast’s single cast and having a lower cd. It’s a strong condition cleanser and the hp/s is, I think, comparable. The main drawback is the long casting time of mantras. However, this build’s default style is very passive (Mantras won’t be affecting the rotation a lot) and it has ways of covering mantra casts (Phase Retreat and Mantra of Distraction can be used while casting mantra of recovery, Decoy and Chaos Storm can be used to cover a mantra cast).

skcamow.3527:

I get why you went 15 into Chaos, but what if you could replace that passive defense with restorative mantras, take 5 from Chaos and go 30 into inspiration which would enable you to take persisting images and RM? Another option would be to take the 15 you put into chaos and throw them into illusions for IC. Quicker CD’s on phase retreat and iLeap makes you that much more slippery.

IC has been tempting. I’ve just never got around to retraiting. My main concern with switching is that it indirectly reduces phantasm survival, as they can no longer give each other regen. But I will look into this as well.

skcamow.3527:

Finally, have you played with halting strike vs empowered illusions? I have to imagine you’re interrupting often, half the time AoE (Chaos Storm/MB), and that trait could help with 1vMany scenarios.

I have thought about it. The drop in consistent DPS through phantasms is a bit scary though.

Dat character limit.

Heinel.6548:

Personally I prefer Shattered Concentration for lockdown builds.

Shattered Concentration would be great if phantasm wasn’t in the core of this build. The amount of shattering done is minimal. Diversion, if your phantasms are off cd, is probably the only shatter that will be used and can take advantage of Shattered Concentration. Unfortunately, this does leave this build with an inefficient boon removal (Sword Auto).

However, even without lockdown, this build is strong on its own. So it is quite possible to outlast someone’s stability and wreck face afterwards.

Heal mantra makes a lot of sense when traiting MP. You have quicker access to cleanses, but you have to blow your CD’s to do it. Slotting RM would make it not as worrisome to blow those CD’s to cleanse.

Still not sold on persisting images. Keep in mind that by taking RM, you are AoE healing which means your phantasms in the area get that same nice heal you do. Also about the regen on phantasms, you’d still have that via phantasmal healing in any version of the build we’ve discussed.

I understand the hesitancy on the heal signet – honestly if you’re going with heal mantra you probably want to keep it that way for MP if anything else. If you took mantra of pain that’s a different story, but you’re pretty full on your utilities.

I look forward to hearing how your further experimentation goes.

Whoops, I got mixed up with trait lines. I thought phant regen came from chaos (Writing when I wake up, bleh)

The thing about MoR is that the cd is actually really low (10s). If it’s traited with Mantra Mastery, it’s 8 seconds. Blowing it on cd isn’t as much an issue if it were, say, ether feast. The extra healing from RM is definitely tempting and I will look more into it as I WvW today (Going to run Mantra Mastery and Restorative Mantras this week).

I agree that this is not a lockdown build per se..

Dazes and Interrupts are part of a mesmer mechanic meaning any build can utilize them.

If you want a lockdown build.. You can build around the traits and utilizing other factors as a form of control (i.e. conditions, chill on sigils or runes, the on death traits, etc.)

Honestly To really build a really really good lockdown build, we only can wait. Its how the traits are designed by anet that makes it difficult,. check dom 25.

We also lack AoE interrupts most of them forces you into a specific weapon set, and Imbued Diversion sits so deep in the illusions line.,

I almost feel that lockdown is only good for 1v1 1v2 at the max.

PS: You might want to change the sigils of paralyzation, you can maximize it if you have Dom XII, 15% in reality, you wont notice the difference with or w/o it. SO you have an extra option for sigils.

StickerHappy.8052:

I agree that this is not a lockdown build per se..

Dazes and Interrupts are part of a mesmer mechanic meaning any build can utilize them.

If you want a lockdown build.. You can build around the traits and utilizing other factors as a form of control (i.e. conditions, chill on sigils or runes, the on death traits, etc.)

Lockdown can be boiled down to as preventing your opponent from doing anything. The most powerful form of this is obviously stuns (No movement, no skills). Dazes are strong too (No skills). Illusionary Leap can also stop movement if needed. While I can’t boonstrip efficiently (I only have sword auto) like other lockdown builds, I’m a hybrid. I can’t do everything. My phantasms are extremely glassy compared to a standard phantasm build (No sig of illusions).

By themselves, dazes and stuns are extremely powerful. Why do you think people cried over the hammer warrior meta? Traiting for lockdown is like putting sprinkles on your ice cream, it makes it better but it’s not needed.

I’ll even explain why I chose not to take any lockdown traits.

Dom III: It was a tough decision on this trait. However, it’s competing with +15% phantasm damage. I find phantasm damage more consistent than interrupts so I opted for this.

Dom XII (Confounding Suggestions): Turns dazes into stuns and increases daze duration. Okay, lovely. I have two stuns already, one on a decent cooldown and one that is pretty long duration. Turning my dazes into stuns is a bit excessive with these available to me. Plus it’s pretty far down the traitline, meaning I’d have to give up significant DPS to trait for it. Do I lose much as a lockdown without this? No. I can still stun and daze.

Dom minor grandmaster (Wastrel’s Punishment): Okay, +5% damage to enemies not using a skill. Will this benefit allies? It probably won’t benefit me much seeing as these kinds of boosts don’t typically affect phantasms, the primary form of damage. In traditional lockdown, this might increase the DPS depending on how they deal damage. But no, I won’t gain much as a lockdown/phantasm build with this.

Dueling XII (Furious Interruption): I get quickness. It’s great on the idea that I charge my mantras more quickly. With how I play, I’ve never had issues charging mantras so I skipped this trait as it’s a minor quality of life boost. All the other traits I picked were just more important.

Chaos VIII (Bountiful Interruption): This build is played defensively where the player focuses on total defense while the phantasms deal damage. If the might stacks (Fury too!) went to the phantasms on interrupt, it might be worth taking. They don’t (Meaning I’d have to interrupt them first THEN cast a phantasm which is very situational). Regen has a good uptime already because I’m traited into Inspiration. A good portion of these buffs don’t do much for my build and along with the RNG nature of the trait, I opted not to trait it.

Chaos XI (Chaotic Interruption): It’s similar to confounding suggestion (What’s the difference between stun and a daze + immobilize?). I like it more than Confounding Suggestions because the immobilize is longer than the converted stun and the chill it can apply. Also, it can’t be escaped completely with just a stun breaker (Yay immobilize). However, the effect is a bit redundant when you interrupt with a stun and it competes with a lot of other trait choices. It’s not worth dropping phantasm DPS in my opinion.

StickerHappy.8052:

PS: You might want to change the sigils of paralyzation, you can maximize it if you have Dom XII, 15% in reality, you wont notice the difference with or w/o it. SO you have an extra option for sigils.

Actually, it affects stuns too. It’s significantly noticeable on Signet of Domination. Also, a lot of sigils don’t really mix with phantasms (On crit, +5% damage increase).

After dueling this build yesterday, it definitely is a lockdown build. The traits are dedicated to Phantasms and the weapons/utilities are geared towards control anx it blends very smoothly. This is first and foremost a phantasm build, and shutdown is secondary but it still has a noticeably higher level of enemy control than your standard shatter/phantasm/condition build.

The thing is, with such powerful phantasms Anarchy doesnt need to trait for interrupt rewards. Thats because since this is more of a defensive/reactive lockdown none of them would really matter as much as they would for an aggressive lockdown.

This build is great for 1v1s and did its thing in the all-Mesmer team queue we had this weekend. I’d imagine it has a hefty weakness to warriors and guardians with so little boonstripping.

skcamow.3527:

Heal mantra makes a lot of sense when traiting MP. You have quicker access to cleanses, but you have to blow your CD’s to do it. Slotting RM would make it not as worrisome to blow those CD’s to cleanse.

Still not sold on persisting images. Keep in mind that by taking RM, you are AoE healing which means your phantasms in the area get that same nice heal you do. Also about the regen on phantasms, you’d still have that via phantasmal healing in any version of the build we’ve discussed.

I understand the hesitancy on the heal signet – honestly if you’re going with heal mantra you probably want to keep it that way for MP if anything else. If you took mantra of pain that’s a different story, but you’re pretty full on your utilities.

I look forward to hearing how your further experimentation goes.

Okay. So, I’ve had time to tinker with Restorative Mantras and Mantra Mastery. They definitely change the dynamics of this build. Also, I can say I’ve traited for lockdown a little bit because I traited for more dazes :V

I played with IC a little but I didn’t really like it too much. I might try again though.

Restorative Mantras boosts the healing ability way up. I can’t go back to not having it. My phantasms and clones still die extremely quickly (Radius is small so the heal doesn’t affect them) but it appears it’s not so much an issue at all. I’ve found the best solution is good placement and setup. Oh, it also adds a tiny bit of group utility (Mostly negligible, I think).

Mantra Mastery lets you pop out the heal and daze more often. I pop MoR a lot and so it just blends really nicely.

I’ve also found some of the particularly bad matchups for this build. I’ve been having trouble with s/p thieves. They have a lot of interrupts with pistol whip and headshot (They can back to back spam it too, making charging mantras a pain). The timing to interrupt them is also harder as their main DPS attack has evade frames built in. It’s not an impossible fight to win but it’s a struggle (You have to time your stuns extremely well). I haven’t had a particular issue against other classes with interrupts (Hammer Warrior, Mesmer) as they don’t have a sustainable way to back to back interrupt that isn’t easy to dodge out of.

Since it was Anarchy that teached me how to mesmer long ago, that’s the build I ended up working with. I decided to revive this topic now that I’m playing mesmer more seriously so I can get some opinions about it.

However, I did some changes to adapt it to my playstyle.

While Anarchy used Cavalier/Valkyrie/Knights/Berserker to get the most of Power, Precision, Toughness, Vitality and Ferocity, I decided to simply toss in Celestial as I will get all stats overall… While I get less power, I have some Condition Damage and Healing power that I belive to help (See below).

I don’t like staff… While it’s very good to have phase retreat and the AoE daze from Chaos Storm, I feel I’m not damaging my enemy enough with it so I swaped it for Greatsword. With GS, i have a knockback that can be used as AoE interrupt, I have a ranged attack that deal more damage the farther I am from my enemy and the iBerserker cripple is very good to kite enemies or catch up a fleeing one (Also only iDuelist seen to deal more damage than iBerserker).

Since I prefer playing more aggresively, I removed the 3 points on Chaos and put it on Illusions, so I get (III) Compounding Power which increase my damage by 3% per illusion active. I also get the benefit from the two minor traits Illusionary Retribution (All your shatter skills cause confusion) and Illusionist Celerity (Reduce the recharge on illusion summoning skill in 20%), which allow me to do some shatterings as all my iDuelist/Berserker and Clone (iLeap/Mirror Blade/Decoy) spells will have lowered cooldown and deal some extra damage with confusion (I have condition damage from Celestial gear oposed to Anarchy’s stat combo).

When I’m get in larger fights I change to a more suportive role. I drop the signet for MoP, so I can give my allies some healing while still doing some damage (I have healing power from the Celestial gear and MoP have 1s CD only, so I can kinda spam it) and I cast illusions for shattering to deal damage and add confusion, since I can’t rely on keeping phantasms alive.

The original build/discussion is over 5 months old and does not account for changes since the April 15th feature patch.

The 3 points in Chaos in the original build seem to be misplaced. Dumping them to get 3 points into Illusions for IC seems to be a decent option. I would also recommend allocating 2 points into Dueling to get Harmonious Mantras (new trait location in dueling since the patch) and invest one point into Domination for Dazzling.

Personally, I would almost never run a WvW build without blink; I would replace the signet with blink.

In Summary, try this out:

3/6/0/5/0 – Staff + Sw/P – MoR, Blink, Decoy, MoD
- Halting Strike or Empowered Illusions
- Fury + Pistol Trait + Harmonious Mantras
- Mender’s Purity + Whatever?