Guild Wars 2

Been seeing some amazing Mesmers in PvP, and was wanting to know a good shatter rotation. I seem to lose my clones too quickly to do much shattering in SPvP, yet I see mesmers come in and absolutely dominate using the meta shatter build.

Any rotations or tips would be greatly appreciated. Everyone has that one class that they have a hard time mastering, Mesmer is that class for me.

The best mesmers has their own rotations. Why? because the more a rotation is used, the more it becomes known and with how telegraphed mesmers skills are, it’s very easy to avoid
HOWEVER
keep in mind
Mind wrack and cry of frustration are your two offensive shatter, diversion and distortion are your defensive one
Use your blink and decoy to get out of sight.
You can start channeling GS2 at a safe distance to blink on target while the channel is still active, this will cause the skill to bounce on you and the enemy, getting the max dmg potential out of the skill.
Use mind wrack at the same time for great dmg
GS4 should be used as a burst setter (opening skill, baiting, getting a clone) GS2 and GS3 are your burst skills and should be use with shatters
Try to keep Sword 2 and even sword 3 as a defensive method (sword 3 is a nice teleport to get behind enemy)
even if your clones dies, with your skills and DE you should pump them fast enough to compensate the ones who are killed
Staff 2 is a great evasion skills and used in a glamour gives chaos armor
Staff 5 is an awesome skills, use it as often as possible, it deals damage, daze and stack condis and buffs
I still haven,t found a proper use for torch 5 except for when I need a clone :/
Practice your blink and GS2 channel, it deals insane damage
That’s what I can think of
And the typical rotations for an opening shatter: Torch 4, wait 2 sec, gs2, blink while channeling, mind wrack, gs3
You can use GS4 inbetween in replacement of the 2 sec wait, for an additional clone and a dodge bait.
There’s also that torch 4, torch 5, s3, dodge, s3, s2, Mind wrack, distortion, dodge, gs5. But you waste 2 shatters for one guy

Keep in mind that shatters need time and setting to be effective
You need 3 clones for best burst
You need your clones around your enemy to be sure to land
You need to bait for dodge to make sure your burst isn’t avoided
You need stealth and to move out of the view of your foe
You need to keep constant dmg WHILE planning your burst
etc
etc
etc

Well, one hint I can give you, just in case you don’t know, is to look at the little circles at the bottom of the screen next to your shattering skills. There is 3 of em. They will grow pink for each illusion you have up. I found this useful, especially when starting out, to keep track of everything. You typically want to have 3 illusions up for the highest burst of damage. Try to keep your target surrounded when shattering. You will find many other guides online if you search for them. There are a lot of really good ones out there. I will try to post a couple of them after I find them. I am sure you will also find so called rotations on places like metabattle.
However, I would have to urge you that reading a rotation in no way makes up for experience. Sometimes it just takes practice. There is more to mes than just shattering, such as blinking to the correct locations, knowing where and when to portal, and using the sword abilities to evade attacks or kite. I would say the patch made it a lot easier for new players to do well with mesmer. However, if you want to be a good mesmer, it requires a LOT of time and practice. I love pvp and am currently working on a second legendary for my mesmer. However, I have a LOT to go/learn/practice in all aspects of the game. There are much better mesmers out there than me. But have to say, to me all the neat tricks and challenges is what helped make the mesmer the perfect class for me. I love continually learning new things.

Well, I am seeing a lot of what is going on here new people trying their hand at mesmer and let me talk a little about landing shatters. As previously mentioned shatter skills have 4 tones, burst damage (F1), Condi damage (F2), Stun/lockdown/animation breaker(Thief kitten/dag2 combo)(warrior hamburst) (F3), Invuln (F4). The general idea when shattering is waiting for an opening, if you are up against a clever target that sees you coming expect a few dodges thrown in to break your combo. Make sure you count the enemies dodges to see if they performed any and to check if their evades are on a cooldown. Running the meta, Stealth > gs2(MoD) > F1 > gs3 > Finish off, this is sufficient burst to bring down a target.

Shatter skills should be used in moderation, especially your F3 and F4 because sometimes having some clones out on the field helps you confuse your opponent. Try not to shatter with your opponent a sizable distance from you but more with your illusions on your target. I emphasize do not use blink in spvp to close a gap between yourself and your gs2 because this leaves a very mobile skill on cd which sometimes when up against a condi engi can be very hurtful if you blink right on top of him. Shattering is all about timing your plays and knowing when and when not to open, practise this and you can build onto it and expand your proficiency with shattering.

Pepsi.8907:

And the typical rotations for an opening shatter: Torch 4, wait 2 sec, gs2, blink while channeling, mind wrack, gs3

Today you add also MoD for stun

Bonus: dodge through people with Deceptive Evasion, and then shatter during the dodge, after the image spawns for a nice POW!

If you’re using Mind Wrack, you don’t need to have all three Illusions up. I’ve been doing single Illusion shatters now that we always have IP.

Vashury guide is a great way to learn how to shatter properly.

^ Watch that video. You won’t regret it.

Note how almost all of these tricks are based around putting up illusions you plan to shatter immediately. That’s how you get around the pesky clones-dying-like-flies thing.

Beyond that, I find it best not to think of shattering as a rotation. It’s more like a moment of opportunity. It helps to know the combos when you’ve got the jump on someone, or you landed a stun/immobilize and you want to make them explode ASAP or whatever, but mostly my focus with shattering is just “Who can I catch right now?” That can mean shattering all kinds of odd times.