Guild Wars 2

As the title says I am returning after a 2.5yr break. Last I played my Mesmer was as a Shatter build. I have dusted him off, bought a full set of Dire gear, and headed to WvW and realized I have no idea what to do on this guy.

Could someone give me some advice on the main openers in 1v1 or 1vx? What skills are priority and which ones are useless? Should I be running with my Scepter/Torch most of the time or running in staff? Is there a basic rotation to use? And lastly how do you extend your stealth time, I see some people posting that mesmers can stealth for 30 secs. Again thanks in advance.

Another question, when is it advisable to shatter the clones? And is F2 our best shatter with condition damage? Does this build work well duo roaming with a shatter mesmer, or we better both going PU or both power/shatter builds?

Bump. A lot of views but no advice. I know there are some good PU members out there that could answer a few of these questions. I’ve studied a few of the guides from the stickies but could still use some help. I don’t seem to have much problem staying alive or getting away when I need to but it doesn’t seem like I am downing opponents that fast.

First, here’s the exact build.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAW7fnsIClphNqBGpBcrhlXDycFzYEoBInNpMB9OaA-TxxHABspbwgHCgKq/c7+D1pEEgrAQRK/IEwi5A-e

As for openers, start with your scepter and torch.
Stealth is your friend, it’s what this build is designed around.
F2 and F3 are your primary shatters. F2 for full clones.
You can F3 if someone gets in close to you. Even F1 for the blind.

You can achieve 45 second of full stealth if you need to run away.
Torch > Decoy > Mass invis > Torch > Torch > Decoy > Torch.

Hi

thing about WvW and condi mes, is that it is only useful in roaming, havoc, small stuff. All the old problems which were forcing power builds still remain, even worse now then before.

I run scepter/torch and staff on my condi mes and I’ll post you my build. But it performs poorly in large group scenarios. Beware of that. Also, I have 2 sets of armor, 1 is DPS focused while the other is defense focused. For defense I use dire + runes of melandru, for offense I use 2 pieces of carrion, 4 pieces of sinister with runes of nightmare. I still have to make a perplex cheese build one of these days.

you can also switch out your offensive runes, you can go perplex, tormenting, hell even balthazar, you do get some burns, and it does add up nicely.

i use mirror for healing skill due to its low CD and additional condi cleansing is very nice.

reduced blink CD is a must and on top of that it reflects projectiles which works great together when you are trying to get range on someone or reset combat.

Anyways, here is the build:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAW7flsnhG1YrawMNQtGLvGk5KG+IOFkjjGgc2EA-TViRABTqMgxjAAA7PszDBoDlejp+jP6ecSJImXAASBsoYL-w

ugh, I don’t know why the link generator on that changed my elite from mass invis to TW. Anyways, I run primarily mass Invis for elite, sometimes switch to TW or Moa. The passive bonus from Moa signet stacks really well with runes of Melandru nowadays and is very effective.

You can use it as a reference then adjust from there on based on your playstyle. I often switch out feedback for veil and Mental Defense trait for Temporal Enchanter when I do that.

The Chaotic Dampening trait in the chaos line is nearly useless for me. I get enough prot from PU boons and Illusionary Membrane trait already, and the time reduction on staff skills is so small it is completely not noticable on a practical scale, thus worthless.

A good deal of my damage comes from the illusions trait line and can not be altered. for my playstyle, since i just love to mind kitten people the trait that reduces scepter recharge time is almost worthless, whereas confusion on blinds is a very good one that fits well with the rest. yours may vary.

a funny thing i should mention, due to the way confusion and torment work, it takes actually quite a bit longer to kill someone that is AFK, vs someone that is actually playing. So if you run into a passive regen AFK bunker war, you will be sitting there for a while as I did

For PvE condi build you have to go completely different route, you go sinister + some rampager, some carrion if you need better survivability and use pistol, runes of the krait are good for it too, for pve your bleeds are your main condi, and you will use different trait lines. beware if you come into wvw on your pve build you will get destroyed unless the person you run into is afk, a horribaddy or just plain stupid. PvE builds do not need PU or that entire trait line.

hope this helps you out a bit for condi build. keep in mind though, that if you are just zerging, especially in an organized group, then you’ll be stuck on your old sword / focus / GS power build or be far less effective.

Kusa.6438:

First, here’s the exact build.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAW7fnsIClphNqBGpBcrhlXDycFzYEoBInNpMB9OaA-TxxHABspbwgHCgKq/c7+D1pEEgrAQRK/IEwi5A-e

As for openers, start with your scepter and torch.
Stealth is your friend, it’s what this build is designed around.
F2 and F3 are your primary shatters. F2 for full clones.
You can F3 if someone gets in close to you. Even F1 for the blind.

You can achieve 45 second of full stealth if you need to run away.
Torch > Decoy > Mass invis > Torch > Torch > Decoy > Torch.

F2 and F1 are your primary shatters. Even without dealing direct damage, F1 is on a much, much lower cooldown than F2 :P
Better to save your F2 for when you actually need to daze.

Tips that instantly made me a better condi Mes:

1. Shatter with two clones. It’s ok. Really. Don’t need to wait for three clones, go ahead and shatter. Instead of waiting for a third, shatter the pair then get a fresh pair up.
2. Be careful with Desperate Decoy (trait from dueling). It can break attacks chains and trigger revealed with poor timing.
3. Get sigils that work on weapon swap. Swap weapons. Don’t wait for CDs, swap into a fresh rotation. Both Scepter and Staff are friends.
4. You don’t creates clones if you don’t have a target. So, if you want decoy’s stealth but don’t want to draw attention release target.
5. Energy bolts break stealth. I know this seems common sense, but if you sling a Staff/Scepter Auto-Attack, there’s a time gap between it and when the hit occurs. Stealth too soon, the attack will hit and reveal you.

Hope these help you as much as they did me!

AlphatheWhite.9351:

Kusa.6438:

First, here’s the exact build.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAW7fnsIClphNqBGpBcrhlXDycFzYEoBInNpMB9OaA-TxxHABspbwgHCgKq/c7+D1pEEgrAQRK/IEwi5A-e

As for openers, start with your scepter and torch.
Stealth is your friend, it’s what this build is designed around.
F2 and F3 are your primary shatters. F2 for full clones.
You can F3 if someone gets in close to you. Even F1 for the blind.

You can achieve 45 second of full stealth if you need to run away.
Torch > Decoy > Mass invis > Torch > Torch > Decoy > Torch.

F2 and F1 are your primary shatters. Even without dealing direct damage, F1 is on a much, much lower cooldown than F2 :P
Better to save your F2 for when you actually need to daze.

F2 isn’t for daze though it’s for applying confusion.

Colly.4073:

AlphatheWhite.9351:

Kusa.6438:

First, here’s the exact build.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAW7fnsIClphNqBGpBcrhlXDycFzYEoBInNpMB9OaA-TxxHABspbwgHCgKq/c7+D1pEEgrAQRK/IEwi5A-e

As for openers, start with your scepter and torch.
Stealth is your friend, it’s what this build is designed around.
F2 and F3 are your primary shatters. F2 for full clones.
You can F3 if someone gets in close to you. Even F1 for the blind.

You can achieve 45 second of full stealth if you need to run away.
Torch > Decoy > Mass invis > Torch > Torch > Decoy > Torch.

F2 and F1 are your primary shatters. Even without dealing direct damage, F1 is on a much, much lower cooldown than F2 :P
Better to save your F2 for when you actually need to daze.

F2 isn’t for daze though it’s for applying confusion.

Typo, I meant save your f3 (which you could probably tell from my first sentence).
F3 = high cooldown, f1 = low cooldown, f2 = extra confusion.
F3 applies the same conditions as f1, so hit f1 for the dps, and f3 if you need the daze.

Your build is not that great. Also, F1 is still spamable, you want F2 first for confusion. F3 is for dazing as I said, especially when someone is right on top of you. I never said not to use F1.

This build is trash…

Tongku.5326:

Hi

thing about WvW and condi mes, is that it is only useful in roaming, havoc, small stuff. All the old problems which were forcing power builds still remain, even worse now then before.

I run scepter/torch and staff on my condi mes and I’ll post you my build. But it performs poorly in large group scenarios. Beware of that. Also, I have 2 sets of armor, 1 is DPS focused while the other is defense focused. For defense I use dire + runes of melandru, for offense I use 2 pieces of carrion, 4 pieces of sinister with runes of nightmare. I still have to make a perplex cheese build one of these days.

you can also switch out your offensive runes, you can go perplex, tormenting, hell even balthazar, you do get some burns, and it does add up nicely.

i use mirror for healing skill due to its low CD and additional condi cleansing is very nice.

reduced blink CD is a must and on top of that it reflects projectiles which works great together when you are trying to get range on someone or reset combat.

Anyways, here is the build:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAW7flsnhG1YrawMNQtGLvGk5KG+IOFkjjGgc2EA-TViRABTqMgxjAAA7PszDBoDlejp+jP6ecSJImXAASBsoYL-w

ugh, I don’t know why the link generator on that changed my elite from mass invis to TW. Anyways, I run primarily mass Invis for elite, sometimes switch to TW or Moa. The passive bonus from Moa signet stacks really well with runes of Melandru nowadays and is very effective.

You can use it as a reference then adjust from there on based on your playstyle. I often switch out feedback for veil and Mental Defense trait for Temporal Enchanter when I do that.

The Chaotic Dampening trait in the chaos line is nearly useless for me. I get enough prot from PU boons and Illusionary Membrane trait already, and the time reduction on staff skills is so small it is completely not noticable on a practical scale, thus worthless.

A good deal of my damage comes from the illusions trait line and can not be altered. for my playstyle, since i just love to mind kitten people the trait that reduces scepter recharge time is almost worthless, whereas confusion on blinds is a very good one that fits well with the rest. yours may vary.

a funny thing i should mention, due to the way confusion and torment work, it takes actually quite a bit longer to kill someone that is AFK, vs someone that is actually playing. So if you run into a passive regen AFK bunker war, you will be sitting there for a while as I did

For PvE condi build you have to go completely different route, you go sinister + some rampager, some carrion if you need better survivability and use pistol, runes of the krait are good for it too, for pve your bleeds are your main condi, and you will use different trait lines. beware if you come into wvw on your pve build you will get destroyed unless the person you run into is afk, a horribaddy or just plain stupid. PvE builds do not need PU or that entire trait line.

hope this helps you out a bit for condi build. keep in mind though, that if you are just zerging, especially in an organized group, then you’ll be stuck on your old sword / focus / GS power build or be far less effective.

Thanks for the tips. Is the idea to shatter as soon as I can with 2 or 3 clones up, or keep them up as long as possible to apply more conditions? Fyi I am just using this for solo and duo WvW at the most I might run with 4 other people.

Also I am using the PU roaming build and gear recommended on MetaBattle.

Another quick question what is the best food to run for a PU build?

Ironbars.9123:

Also I am using the PU roaming build and gear recommended on MetaBattle.

Before using the metabattle build, please READ THIS POST

It’s filled with great advice.

As for food, you want Rare Veggie Pizza and Krait Tuning Crystal.
Those, however, are expensive. So, I use Super Veggie Pizza and Quality Tuning crystals. Much cheaper, still potent!