Guild Wars 2

Hey guys.

I was reading Chaos’s guide, and going by that, it looks like I’ll be using a lot of S/S in my time as mesmer. I plan on doing fractals with it and not much pvp, or at least not as often. However, I don’t really enjoy being melee all that much and prefer range, even if it’s just medium range (like engi). Because of that, I’m thinking maybe I should focus on ele before doing mesmer.

What are your experiences at high level fractals? Is S/S really the meta, and other things are less acceptable?

Thanks.

Ele doesn’t really sit at range either, unless you count slightly further back spamming air 1 in D/F. Even staff ele doesn’t really range.

Well if that’s the case, then mesmer definitely sounds like a lot more fun. Won’t bother with ele.

To be honest, lights are not wanted in high level fractals unless you are a bursty, zerky build. (By high levels, I mean 31-50.) So, to truly answer your question:

In fractals, you will spend almost all of your time at range. There are very few instances where you will be stacked. Stacking is the surest way to wipe your party. So, in that case ele or mesmer is good. Granted, for mesmer, you will more than likely be using greatsword. Staff is slow with not a lot of damage output, though your phantom might be awesome with the right squad, and people will just laugh at you for using scepter. I prefer playing with sw/focus or pistol on my mesmer with GS, but it is often counterproductive to be in melee range of anything by about L30 in fractals (especially as a light).

That said, ele is starting to look like a better option. However, this will rely primarily on the build you want to use and how good you become at the class. To be good at either ele or mes you will need to be versatile – knowing multiple builds, carrying different sets of armor, and variations of weapons. Most often I run a healing build on my ele. It’s tanky and offers pretty decent support, as those who are trying to facetank will need extra healing. In other situations I swap my build to support only me and deal damage. I never run d/d on ele in higher fractals. I usually have staff or scepter/focus or dagger equipped.