Guild Wars 2

Hellu, i’m new to this forum section. This topic is related to mesmer in dungeons

I have been playing mesmer for about two weeks, i will not claim i’m the best or the worst. But after been doing some dungeons i have a few questions.

I’ve browsed the forums and i found some related topics about my concern but i got a few questions still.

Might be noob questions but maybe some can answer them for me.

1# Feedback – i know that a WoR works that if a projectile hits it, it gets reflected back to the caster. Since Feedback is a dome and not a wall i wonder, does it matter if the caster who is doing the projectiles is inside of the feedback or outside. Outside as in the feedback being between the caster itself and the group of players. If a difference, please tell.

2# Phantasmals – I have a hard time to keep my phantasmals to stay alive, if i use the iWarden he just stays there, spinning like a disco on a friday night just to get roflstomped by one aoe attack after 2 seconds. I find swordsmen to survive easier, and duelists to survive easiest.

How do fellow mesmers keep the phantasmals alive if there is any chance?

I can add that some bosses i can keep three up most of the time but then i usually go for 2x iSwordsmen and 1x iDuelist or the other way around depending on how much aoe the bosses do.

I prefer pistol over focus, would this be a dps loss/bad move?

3# Reflections – I have read this topic ( https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Guide-Where-and-When-to-Reflect/first#post2941183 ) and first of all it helps a bit. But how up to date is it?

I have done a few up paths in TA lately and i’ve used feedback on the first spider and 2nd spider but nothing happens – no reflect what so ever. Is it fixed or do i do something wrong? The feeling of popping a feedback on something that dont reflect just makes me feel… i guess most of you know.

4# Builds I’m currently running the meta 6/4/0/0/4 ( http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Mesmer_-_S/S_/F_/P ) Running with Mantra of Resolve – Signet of Inspiration (to share my boons, if my group cant provide with enough boons i swap this out for Mantra of Concentration) – Feedback (if no reflect or high condi i swap this out for null field) – Time Warp and Signet of the Ether. Can play with stealth when the situation calls for it and such but its not in my main setup like what i just mentioned.

Would a build like this be viable ? Or “usefull/effective” or would bosses still nuke the phantasmals? http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQRAsd8cnsISRaWgGeoB1aIR1QO7zhosbaSFocdA-e

(running exotic assassin gear and weapons, zerker accessories, ranger runes, force and night sigils)

If the bosses would still nuke the phantasmals within 10 seconds or so a “no” is enough to answer this or if i would lose way to much of my personal dps.

And last question

5# Why is shatter mesmer not popular in PvE? Mind Wrack do high damage with 25 stacks of might and (me at least, cant keep them alive long enough to feel i use its fully potential) it would not matter if they die or not if you can summon three fast then mind wrack or any other shatter.

I do apologise for wall of text, but some answers would be welcome. I added some numbers on the questions if that will make it easier/faster/smoother to reply.

I’ll correct a bit of misinformation that the poster above me stated, and add a bit more clarification.

1. Feedback is a sphere of projectile reflecting space, not a shell. Any enemy projectile contacting any location inside that sphere is reflected. There is absolutely no limit on the number of projectiles that can be reflected.
2. You’re pretty spot on with how things end up squishing phantasms. The duelist and swordsmen do tend to stay out of the way better, and for that reason (if you’re motivated enough to switch all the time) you can swap out your focus for a pistol when you don’t need the reflects. There’s usually not any great way to keep the phantasms alive in most fights, just gotta keep pumping them out.
3. Reflections got nerfed hard recently, because Anet decided that interesting strategies shouldn’t work in most PvE encounters. You can no longer reflect stuff from malroana (or the champ spiders in arah, same enemy model). I think it still works on the 2nd boss (the dual form sylvari/spider), but you’ll only get reflects when she’s in sylvari form, the spider does melee attacks.
4. For builds, just look at the stickied dungeon thread, you’ll see all the different builds categorized and discussed there. Alternatively, say Frifox three times in front of a mirror to summon him, and he’ll walk you through them as well.
5. Shatter mesmer is awful in PvE because the total damage per second is absolutely abysmal. You can do a reasonable amount of burst…and then nothing. Even phantasms that die fairly rapidly will do more damage than a shatter build will over the course of a fight. Additionally, phantasm traits/lines line up nicely with the other utility parts of our toolset, and shatters don’t at all.

1. Feedback will reflect the first twenty-five projectiles that hit the bubble or spawn inside the bubble, so as long as the path of the projectile to your character is intercepted or contained within FB you should be okay.

2. Rule of thumb is that if you don’t need the anti-projectile or cleave capabilities of focus, switching to pistol is a smarter move because of its uptime. Even if pistol provides less DPS, the fact that it’s alive outweighs.

4. I actually run a similar build using 24053: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQRAsd8cnsISHaWkGuqB1aIR1QObxhorLpCUyOlA-e

IRCC compared to 64004 with mantras personal dps on a phantasm oriented build was in the ballpark of 10-15% less, but the 64004 build doesn’t have Phantasmal Strength. Both styles are viable, but don’t forget to retrait depending on the situation.

5. As someone that only does Arah/Fractals, the only situations in my experience where GS/Sx shatter is clearly superior to phantasm spec is at the end of Arah P2 against Operative Brie. Other fights such as the Molten Duo if your group isn’t using Icebows, Jade Maw at lower levels, and the end boss of the Dredge fractal if your group isn’t one-shotting.

Edit: twenty-five projectiles are reflected by feedback, not twenty. (http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Feedback)

Fay.2357:

I’ll correct a bit of misinformation that the poster above me stated, and add a bit more clarification.

1. Feedback is a sphere of projectile reflecting space, not a shell.

What? Every PvEr that I’ve ever talked to has called it a bubble, from the casuals to the vets in DnT and LoD. And even if we do call it a “sphere of projectile reflecting space”, what difference does it make? We mean the same thing, and I even went out of my way to stress that projectiles within Feedback would also be reflected.

Fay.2357:

There is absolutely no limit on the number of projectiles that can be reflected.

“The skill reflects a maximum of 25 projectiles to your opponent(s). After that, projectiles will be absorbed instead.”

- http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Feedback

expandas.7051:

Fay.2357:

I’ll correct a bit of misinformation that the poster above me stated, and add a bit more clarification.

1. Feedback is a sphere of projectile reflecting space, not a shell.

What? Every PvEr that I’ve ever talked to has called it a bubble, from the casuals to the vets in DnT and LoD. And even if we do call it a “sphere of projectile reflecting space”, what difference does it make? We mean the same thing, and I even went out of my way to stress that projectiles within Feedback would also be reflected.

That bit wasn’t intended towards you, sphere is just the terminology I like use when explaining it to someone newer like the OP.

expandas.7051:

Fay.2357:

There is absolutely no limit on the number of projectiles that can be reflected.

“The skill reflects a maximum of 25 projectiles to your opponent(s). After that, projectiles will be absorbed instead.”

- http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Feedback

If that actually is true, then it’s a quite recent change and a MASSIVE nerf. I wonder how they managed to sneak that one in. That’s truly monstrous.

Edit: will test and report back soon.

Just tested it out, I got 2 rangers to rapidfire and a thief to unload a few times. I got 39 reflects noted in my combat log, plus the visual recognition. The wiki is 100% wrong, thankfully. I’ll update it now.

My mistake, sorry for harping on you. I’m very curious to know how and why someone put that in the wiki though. My gut feeling is that someone was comparing curtain to FB on Lupi.

Thanks for the replies!

I will browse through the build thread to see if i find something that looks interesting/fun.

I’m having an awesome time on mesmer in dungeons if i can keep 2x or 3x iSwordsmen up that crit for 7-8k each jump in after one another.

Will also keep in mind to summon Frifox if i need some mesmer “guru” to assist me on my path to master mesmer.

Cheers (: