Guild Wars 2

I use Brazil’s DPS/support build. (http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/83936-the-new-mesmer-meta/). It still does nice damage. I made a quick video to kind of show you sword/focus and sword/pistol. You can switch out Signet of Inspiration for Blink if the situation calls for it. I was using mostly zerker gear with Scholar Runes, but used two celestial trinkets and a knight’s ring to show you the damage with a bit of extra survival. Not my fastest giant kill, but you get the general idea.

The build is…
10-III
30-II, IV, IX
0
30-II, VIII, IX
0

My utilities are typically Blink/Signet of Inspiration, Null Field, Feedback, and Time Warp.

You can switch out a 5 or 10 points if you so choose. I just run this because it’s high utility without sacrificing too much damage. Yeah, it’s not the best damage, but it’s nothing to sneeze at. I also bring GS along if I need to range. People poo-poo on GS for some reason, but it’s a solid ranged option.

spoj.9672:

Personal preference really. Duelist does slightly more damage. And the interrupt on pistol is pretty nice.

Yeah, I find myself swapping between the two a lot, too. Interrupt vs Block mostly.

spoj.9672:

Actually you can techniquely solo melee mossman and ice elemental even if your group ranges. Archdiviner does require coordination and isnt pug friendly to melee. But thats not the point, the point is GS isnt even good in those situations. Scepter is better.

Well, I will have to try mossman again…my previous attempts when being the only person in melee range have not been good. And some groups I have played with aren’t putting cripple, making the GS phantasm better (for me) in those cases to help me kite (I will never understand it, but most of the time, I have mossman aggroed to me nearly the entire fight). It may be a trashsword, but it has been wonderful in helping me get PuG groups through Mossman unscathed.

When you say scepter is better. Are you assuming a cancellation of the auto before the 3rd hit?

If you can do that its even better. But just having 2 offhand phantasms maintained is good enough.

For mossman just evade behind him everytime he does his attacks and use your reflects. With permanent vigor you should have no trouble evading every time.

Pyroatheist.9031:

@DuckDuckBOOM: The thing about scepter at <600 range is you begin to question why you’re using scepter and not sword.

As far as gs5 is concerned, if you position yourself correctly, you can generally group up mobs with it. It’s obviously not as easy to do as with the focus, but it does work rather effectively.

Confusing images is really the one saving grace of the scepter. It does actually do a lot of damage, more than blurred frenzy in fact, so you get reliable damage out of that.

Overall though, they’re gonna be pretty similar, with the main difference being that gs is far more effective for aoe damage (which is where I usually use it, clearing trash), and allows you to get up to a full 1200 range while still maintaining damage (which is the other place I use it, when 1200 range damage is important). The scepter can’t do that.

I know GS5 can be good but I have never seen a pug mesmer use it well. They either don’t touch it (I’m ok with that) or they spam it and keep scattering enemies even though the party keeps telling them to stop. Those are the GS mesmers that give an especially bad rep to the noob stereotype.

I mainly bring up the scepter for people that need the extra defense that comes with falling back. I think everyone agrees that sword/focus is a very good default set to use. Since the OP is a fresh mesmer/gw2 player? recommending full melee would probably ruin his experience. Having the sc/sw weapon swap gives 2 blocks and some decent dmg while trying to practice staying in melee but has ranged utility.

The rest of my post was in response to skcamow asking about if the GS under 600 range (for boon synergy) would be better off than the scepter.

For fights like mossman I try to melee when I can but I always draw aggro in pugs. I never am able to fall back to 900+ range when he is constantly chasing me down so those 2 extra blocks are pretty awesome. Since the blocks spawn clones anyways and his axe bounces/random attacks kill off my illusions, I rarely find myself with 3 phantasms against him. If anything, I find the scepter auto a good way of spawning more distractions for him.

@ Bumbler, how often do you have 3 phantasms up vs mossman or archdiviner? If you have aggro, how often is your gs auto actually in the 900 range?

As far as mossman goes, I just end up running in circles with sword/focus, dropping wardens and curtain to keep my kitten agony free. Generally you can keep the dagger off you and your party pretty much the entire time doing that.

As an aside, you can’t ‘draw aggro’ on mossman. He will target 1 person and stay with them until they die, then target another.

That’s what I meant by draw aggro. Usually if a different pug gets aggro, they die and it eventually winds up on me. Why not kite with scepter/focus?

DuckDuckBOOM.4097:

That’s what I meant by draw aggro. Usually if a different pug gets aggro, they die and it eventually winds up on me. Why not kite with scepter/focus?

Because his 2 crossed arms wind-up teleport 1-shot attack is actually 2 hits, and will instakill you through the scepter block.

Pyroatheist.9031:

As an aside, you can’t ‘draw aggro’ on mossman. He will target 1 person and stay with them until they die, then target another.

This is good to know, and why I can never shake him. Thanks!

DuckDuckBOOM.4097:

@ Bumbler, how often do you have 3 phantasms up vs mossman or archdiviner? If you have aggro, how often is your gs auto actually in the 900 range?

With respect to mossman, when I have aggro, I kite him back and forth, in front of the house, on opposite ends until I hit the edge. It’s probably 20% of the fight in which I am greater than 900 range. Typically, I kite him to one end using GS1 and summoning iZerker on CD. Once he reaches me, the friend I usually run with roots him and I blink away and run to the opposite side. If he disappears on his way to me, I swap to sword and then blurred frenzy when he pops on me, and then I blink away. I normally have 2 iZerkers and 1 pistol phantasm up the entire fight (dogs often kill the iZerkers) and feedback when necessary. I’ll try scepter next time (if I am failing in my melee attempt) and see if the lack of cripple from iZerker is a hindrance.

As for the archdiviner, I range both fights at max range. I open up with pistol and swap to GS and the iZerker. The phantasms do not stay up long due to the condition wells, so I have maybe 1 up at a time (which is terrible DPS, i know, but what can I do ::insertgomeleehere::). Here, also, I will try scepter with an offhand next time I do him…which won’t be too far off, as I get cliffside at least 80% of my runs….the number of times I have gone swamp/cliffside/dredge is depressing.

Bumbler.7581:

colesy.8490:

You don’t need to kite them at all.

He’s practically the Subject Alpha of fractals, extremely lethal though heavily choreographed attacks which promote you bursting as fast as possible in melee, you can kill him at 48 with one heating.

Yes, you can. In an organized group where you know that everyone is aware of the tells and everyone is doing their part to maintain 25 might/vuln stacks. This is rarely the case with a PuG.

On this not, this is also the case with some of the other bosses in fractals such as the archdiviner and mossman. Yes, of course you can melee them, but the group needs to know each other and know when to properly use their skills. So in a PuG, when I am fighting mossman and I have aggro nearly the entire fight, GS is a requirement as I would die if I were the only person melee-ing him, and I can kite him using the GS4 to cripple. If I need a BF, I switch over and use it, summon a pistol phantasm, and wait to switch over.

In standard dungeons, both organized and in a PuG, full melee on a mesmer is best in most cases. Fractals 48 are simply a different story when not in an organized group, and having the GS on swap for when you need to back out is essential.

It’s time PUGs learnt to melee bosses like the ice elemental and bloomhunger. There’s almost no excuse for them not to if they can do it in COF and COE, it just requires them spending a minute or two learning the tells.

Even in a PUG, you should have no problem meleeing the ice elemental, and I think bloomhunger has been solo’d at 80, so he’s pretty safe too.

colesy.8490:

It’s time PUGs learnt to melee bosses like the ice elemental and bloomhunger. There’s almost no excuse for them not to if they can do it in COF and COE, it just requires them spending a minute or two learning the tells.

Even in a PUG, you should have no problem meleeing the ice elemental, and I think bloomhunger has been solo’d at 80, so he’s pretty safe too.

While this wouldn’t be a problem, and it would be nice if people stopped bringing cleric’s gear and doing their best to melee when it’s most efficient, I can see where PuGs like to go with the flow (as far as fotm48 goes) to be safe. For example, on a 48, I went in to melee bloomhunger. One person said “what??” as I was the only one to run in. Everything was fine, but I downed at like 20% because I made a mistake in my dodges. I was immediately asked if I had 45 AR and was kicked. (Ever since, I only run if I have a friend who starts the instance).

Learning to melee fractal bosses takes time, and if someone at fotm 48 has never done so, they might not want to take the time to learn, and doing so in a 48 could get you kicked if in a PuG. Therefore they never take the time to do so, which is why I prefer guild runs now as it’s just more chill and are open to learning things like melee-ing the ice elemental. Plus, you need a skill called awareness when melee-ing some of the harder content (which may be easy and faceroll to you, but nonetheless, it is still harder content) such as Bloomhunger48 and IceElemental48 which is very OP!

PS – It would also be nice if people in the new LFG tool would stop joining fotm 48 groups and proceed to ask what is meant by “45AR required”. This has happened to me with more than 5 people…but I digress…

I think the problem with meleing bloomhunger is that most ppl have melee assist turned on. If you stand inside him, the only attack that can hit you is his agony attack and blurred frenzy is perfect for that. If you have melee assist turned on, you cant stand inside him. Ideally you have 1 or maybe 2 ppl at range to take out the spirits.

If you are worried about cripple for mossman, the focus 4 does that and speeds you up. As pyro stated, don’t try to block the double slice. The rest of the melee attacks can be blocked just fine.

I feel like I asked this before, but which boss do you range in Arah? I think all the bosses are best handled full melee. Most actually get harder if you range.

Guanglai Kangyi.4318:

I feel like I asked this before, but which boss do you range in Arah? I think all the bosses are best handled full melee. Most actually get harder if you range.

Unless you’re doing a speed-kill of lupicus, you spend much of the fight at range. There’s apparently another boss that you range too, in path 4 I believe. Some range is important when fighting that abomination too, and unless you want to exploit, you can’t do the ooze boss at short range.

Yeah, I turned melee assist off once I found out that you can stand in subject alpha for phase 1 CoE way back when >_<

And lupicus is the range boss in Arah. And while I will agree that melee makes the fight cake, whenever I convince PuGs and tell them what to do to melee…it never ends well.

Lupicus has learnable tells, and abomination has heavily choreographed attacks that can be easily dodged.

I’m sure people familiar with either of these bosses will melee them regardless of whatever the pugs are doing. I can’t imagine why people range Lupi, not only does it make projectile reflects more potent if you’re up close, but it means he doesn’t shadowstep, and IIRC if you don’t move much he won’t dome you.

That’s one of the reasons i think Lupi is the best Gw2 boss.

Most moves have quite clear tells.
Most moves will not instantgib you – if you react, even when getting hit.
Most moves will istantgib you if you don’t react.
Phases.

All in all, Lupicus is just a exercise of “watch the boss. connect brain cells. dodge properly”.

(i say “most” cause some things could use a little of polish. see p1 grub tells.)

Abom is easier in melee because he doesn’t throw the rock, he just swings and stomps. You can just stack reflects on him and let the Inquest kill themselves, so you don’t need to worry about those either.

Lupicus is easier in general as well because he won’t shadowstep or projectile you, and his spray is easier to dodge in melee. P3, the lifesteal cone and projectile are negated in melee, and you can also reflect his salvo if you are in melee.

DuckDuckBOOM.4097

I know GS5 can be good but I have never seen a pug mesmer use it well. They either don’t touch it (I’m ok with that) or they spam it and keep scattering enemies even though the party keeps telling them to stop. Those are the GS mesmers that give an especially bad rep to the noob stereotype.

Agree…
TA endboss…
In few days someone will start telling that using GS is for noobs because i bet usual warriors will kill the boss before it even get the buff. (same as fotm 48 dredge suit…enjoy your melee if OTHER professions does OP dps….).

Yet focus pull + Greatsword push are huge for positioning the holographic mob near boss.
Also for oozes part since it push elementals without affecting oozes.

LordByron.8369:

DuckDuckBOOM.4097

I know GS5 can be good but I have never seen a pug mesmer use it well. They either don’t touch it (I’m ok with that) or they spam it and keep scattering enemies even though the party keeps telling them to stop. Those are the GS mesmers that give an especially bad rep to the noob stereotype.

Agree…
TA endboss…
In few days someone will start telling that using GS is for noobs because i bet usual warriors will kill the boss before it even get the buff. (same as fotm 48 dredge suit…enjoy your melee if OTHER professions does OP dps….).

Yet focus pull + Greatsword push are huge for positioning the holographic mob near boss.
Also for oozes part since it push elementals without affecting oozes.

Our mesmer used sword focus the whole time and survived the best out of all of us. Focus was much easier to pull the striker to clockheart compared to a buggy push.

One important thing to keep in mind about mesmers is that they are the best class when it comes to reflecting projectiles. In dungeons reflection is one of the most important abilities. Mesmers are not the best dps-ers or the best tanks or the best aoe-ers, but they shine when it comes to reflects and it’s the best utility they bring.

That’s why I believe you should always trait for better reflections when it comes to dungeons, everything else is secondary. In this context you should always have an focus offand as a weapon, and since you still need to do damage a sword is again a must. So sword+focus is the most useful outside very specific boss fights.

As for your other set of weapons, well it’s mostly situational. Don’t believe the anti-greatsword circlejerkers that invade every thread, it is very useful in certain situations, especially when your party decides to range/kite. The GS should be your go-to weapon for range battles. If damage is needed, switch for sword/sword. Sword/pistol is pretty crap in dungeons.

As for utilities, feedback is a must, blink is very useful for getting out of tight spots/kiting. Other then that it’s again very situational, you should switch your utilities accordingly.

spoj.9672:

LordByron.8369:

DuckDuckBOOM.4097

I know GS5 can be good but I have never seen a pug mesmer use it well. They either don’t touch it (I’m ok with that) or they spam it and keep scattering enemies even though the party keeps telling them to stop. Those are the GS mesmers that give an especially bad rep to the noob stereotype.

Agree…
TA endboss…
In few days someone will start telling that using GS is for noobs because i bet usual warriors will kill the boss before it even get the buff. (same as fotm 48 dredge suit…enjoy your melee if OTHER professions does OP dps….).

Yet focus pull + Greatsword push are huge for positioning the holographic mob near boss.
Also for oozes part since it push elementals without affecting oozes.

Our mesmer used sword focus the whole time and survived the best out of all of us. Focus was much easier to pull the striker to clockheart compared to a buggy push.

why “compare”?
Use both.

Actually the sword push is not buggy afaik…is more reliable and faster than focus since nerf, even if focus is longer and easier to use.

If you are slightly to the side or the mob moves as you are casting you can push the mob at a very awkward diagonal angle. Its not precise at all and i hate relying on it. Besides focus should be off cooldown by the time he starts building up the shield again. Better to go sword focus and sword sword for that fight. Groups should be going melee for clockheart because those spinnings cogs are a ranged attack and his other attacks have very readable tells.

Aside the fact that war dps will again led to 25 seconds kills, there are 2 reason to not go full melee in other parties.

1) is faster to bring boss near mobs while you bring mob toward boss
2) electrified floor was fixed today seems.

i don t know if it will force people to move…but a aranged weapon as backup could be Worth.