Guild Wars 2

My main question involves the ability to make your phantasm’s crit, applying the bleed per critical when using traits.

Why is it that most phantasm builds go power instead of condition, especially if they’re using Phantasmal duelists which stack 3-5 (average) up to 8 bleeds on a target each volley?

Is the normal damage from the phantasm that much better than the condition damage, or whats the deal?

What build then would you go for straight power and why?

Also, what builds are the other stats good for? I’ve heard people ignoring everything and stacking crit; why do they do this?

I’m guessing condition specs are for staff specs, but wouldn’t that also incorporate duelists to get that large stack of bleeds on their targets for their warlock to destroy targets with?

Thanks for the help.

Well, I can not claim to be the mecca of experience, but considering all I really do is Wv3, I get to really use and test different builds due to the multitude of different targets and types of targets.

When going for a power build, the more power you get the harder your Phantasms hit as well. While there are many variations out there as to what weapons to hold, having Sword/Pistol or Sword with Staff or GS are the most common. iSwordsman from the oh Sword hits harder than the iDuelest, while iDuelest stacks bleed conditions pretty quickly. While on the GS iBeserker hits pretty well, and cripples or you go staff and put our an iWarlock who hits like a truck even with minimal conditions but power stacked. So yes, the damage from the phantasms is better than the condition damage if you stack power. The majority of damage here comes from the phantasms themselves, so stacking power and crit allows them to hit harder, and crit more often.

Now on a Cond build, you tend to stack well…cond damage. One of the better setups for a condition build is x/pistol with Staff. In this build you pop iDuelest and if you are good with switching quickly to the staff and throwing down CS you can get confusion stacks ontop of bleed[or use feedback really quick for the same effect]. With the staff you generally then pop out clones rather than the iWarlock as they cast WoC and keep conditions up.[you can also then have them use CoF when the CDs are just about up]. In this the clones/phantasms help keep up the conditions, which is where your damage comes from. Also, it isn’t wrong to use the iWarlock, if you are trying to get a nice shot in while they are low on health, but generally…you are leaving yourself with one less source of conditions when you do this.[though sometimes ill summon it close to clone CD, so it gets off a shot or two then is part of the CoF rush]

As far as stacking only crit? Erm…I can’t really see that being the best way to go. While you could easily live without stacking crit[which may make things a little more difficult] I can not see stacking ONLY crit.

Below though, I’ve posted some sample builds for Power and Condition

Sample Power:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fgAQNAscWlwzaoHTzoGaNJxZGRn6oUAAvTqgqLfA3A;TMArMGRMhA
You can honestly play with the sigils as you want, or switch the second sword for the pistol OH if you so desire. Mostly get gear that stacks Power/Percision, but do not forget to get toughness and vit as…well…squishy. That’s why I chose two escape spells, because if they get on you you need to move away, and let your phantasms womp them. Also, I feel that a lot of the abilities in the power line need to be reworked, as going deep into it yields minimal results at the cost of better abilities in the other lines. Again, this is just what I have used and I am sure there are more variations out there. Again, the staff can have the GS, but you want one of the two as Berserker and Warlock are pretty powerful.

Sample Condition build.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fgAQNAraWlwzqqHVzoGaNJhJFBH5nZE9mjqw1LfA3A;TMArSGLMDA
This is a more tanky sorta condition build. You can easily change around some of the tiered skills to give you improved defense, move faster and whatnot if you are not using a glamour build. Same can be said about your additional abilities. I just like feedback as it is extremely useful, and a combo field, helping you to throw some confusion up. You can swap the Scepter for the sword if you so feel like it, but this build doesnt do much up close. The focus can work instead of the pistol in some situations also. Especially when there is a lot going on, you can use 4,4,5 and essentially pull a group into an angry, bleed giving, warden. I try to stack what gives me condition damage in terms of runes, or perhaps something like Lyssa which extends the duration. Personal preference really. Also, it doesnt hurt to have a few pieces on you that bump your vit and toughness even further, as the dmg in this build has a ramp up and you need to make sure you survive the initial burst of what comes at you.

Hope this helps.

I want to take a moment to thank you sincerely for putting effort into your informative post. I realize that must have taken you a bit, and I have made sure to read every part of it since you dedicated the time into helping me.

Thank you again and I’ll try out each build to see how I do with them.

No problem! I know this class can be overwhelming, what with the various abilities we have and dependent we are on combos and synergy. I would know nothing without the help of others[and then experimenting with dying a lot], so in turn I will do my part as well.

Very informative! Just want to let you know that you have helped more than one person playing Mesmer! Never thought of just focusing on the phantasms since your own damage is already decent with power/precision stacking. Plus I’m kiting most of the time anyway!