Guild Wars 2

TL;DR : I use an illusion factory build that heavily relies on shatters and cond. damage. I do amazing. What am I missing about the GS+Sword/Pistol build? And what is the deal with Focus vs. Pistol?

I’m now lvl55 and since around lvl20, I’ve been running an illusion factory build with Scepter/Pistol and Staff.

Here’s the build I’m aiming for (i usually change my utilities quite often except for Mirror Image): http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fgAQNAraWlwzKo3UzqGZNJipCBHaGXX2RqQpVmBudhA

My strategy is usually to kite the mob while using the scepter/dodge/Mirror Image to create as many illusions as possible and shatter them. Even the phantasms usually don’t attack more than once before I destroy them. Shattering stacks confusion and the 3rd scepter skill does it as well, while providing some raw damage too. IDuelist stacks between 5 and 8 bleeds per salve. Staff simply destroys everything stuck in a Chaos Storm. I’ll quickly swap my weapons and spam any illusion-creating skills.

My build works wonders in PvE, since the mobs are too busy fighting my illusions to attack me. It also does a LOT of damage. Same thing in sPvP (to my surprise). I don’t see a lot of other Mesmers running around in Confusion/Illusion Factory builds, so the other players just don’t know how to react to it. By the time they spot the “real” me, the other clones are shattered in their face and 3 more illusions have taken their place (to be shattered in a few seconds as well). I lost no 1 vs 1 and even won some 1 vs 2 or 3.

The only place it doesn’t work well is WvW. I need to be close to my foe and it’s just not possible there.

- I tried a GS + Sword/Pistol build for some time, but I simply hate the 1H-sword for the simple fact that you need to stand still for Blurred Frenzy. If the mob (or the player) moves, you wasted that skill. Also, the range on Illusionary Leap seems far less than 600? I feel like I need to be 2 meters from the mob for it to work… How do you survive with beeing semi-melee? And how good is that build in close quarters? From what I see, GS just becomes useless, while my Staff/Scepter/Pistol build works fine.

- Random question, but what is the deal with the Focus? I see many posts here with Mesmers that use a Sword/Focus combo. I just don’t see how it is better than the pistol. The phantasm stays at the same spot (again, useless if the mob moves) and it is melee, meaning it will die in 2 hits. What am I missing?

The sword has nice AoE. Each swing can hit multiple opponents, and Blurred Frenzy is one of the hardest hitting, multi-target attacks that Mesmers have. Yes, it’s a bit trickier to use melee than range, but that’s usually how it is for any class.

I prefer the GS to the staff. Mirrored Blade has a shorter cooldown than Phase Retreat. It also creates a clone in melee, so on DE’s where you have to tag things instantly, you can immediately hit Shatter and tag nearby mobs. If you get in close enough to the mob, the bounce will grant you a six-stack of Might, and if you use it on cooldown you can generally sit at 12 Might stacks. Handy for carving through mobs. Most importantly though, there is a 0% chance that Mirrored Blade will get you stuck in the terrain. The Berzerker also has good multi-target damage.

As for the focus, the Warden is the hardest hitting phantasm. He also does the most attacks of any phantasm, so if you have Sharper Images you can get more stacks of bleed than from the duelist (barring the Duelist’s Discipline/Ethereal Field bug). His attacks are also AoE so it’s possible to catch multiple mobs in it. Yes, he only works in melee, but mobs generally are less mobile than players, and it’s not hard to drop him in the right spot.

You also get Temporal Curtain which is great for traveling around the map and with practice, can be used to drag mobs into your Warden.

I’m not saying that other weapon combinations are worse. You can easily level with any weapon setup. This is just why I liked leveling with Greatsword and Sword/Focus.

the sword/pistol combo works as such:

use 4 to summon iDuelist.
magic bullet (5* pistol skill) to stun them. Move toward them as you do this.
cast Illusionary leap, FINISH THE COMBO BY USING SWAP
Blurred frenzy
Mind stab to build stacks of vulnerability.

Using the combo on the illusionary leap immobilizes the mob fro 2 1/2 secs, which is oddly enough as long as blurred frenzy stacks to sort through its entire animation

The focus skills, when traited block ranged attacks. This includes your temporal curtain, which serves two other purposes. You get a speed boost, and they get crippled, and you can collapse it to CC a mob whose hitting someone you’d rather not see get hit, like yourself.

Also, iWarden, for all its faults, does the MOST damage of any of your phantasms. In a shatter build, you do not want them, but in a power/crit build, they are by far, the most exceptional DPS of any of the phantasms. If you do not direct the creatures attention to yourself, then yes, they die exceptionally fast, leaving you with…kitten

Against a normal mob, the iwarden can cleave off half thier life if the mob is in the warden’s attack sequence from the beggining. And the warden is AoE, and if traited, it reflects missile attacks back at the source.

Alright, I might retry GS+Sword/Focus when I get the lvl60 Manual.

Is the 20 traits in Inspiration worth the Focus’ reflect effect? That means you can’t go as far in the Domination and Dueling trees. What is a good ratio? 20/20/0/20/10?

Edit: I forgot to ask: If you go Power/Crit, do you use the Spear for underwater? I really hate that weapon :/

http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fgAQRAsd7al0z6pHVzqGa9IxpHMf5NHliu79SKwNvB;TwAgzyoEMJhS1kiJqbMdJ6yGk7GZQA

this is the sword/focus FU RANGED reflect build. Actually fighting ranged mobs with this build would probably make them die faster to themselves than to you. Against melee mobs, they will get in the warden’s aoe bleed sphere of death, and you have 2 sec of invulnerability every 8 seconds with distortion.

I would probably actually use scepter/sword for swapping to get the 2 blocks, blind, confusion and melee sword phantasm with a daze, meaning you can block for 4 seconds out of every 9 1/2, blind them and then daze them for 1 second. meaning you only have 4 seconds of confusion running between which makes confusion kinda pointless…

now if only the auto attack on scepter didnt just spam clones. id like it alot more then :p confusion on the 3rd attack would make more sense with attack 3 but oh well.

The problem I have with shatters in PvE is that they really start to lose their steam after level 70 or so. They’re fine in open-world PvE and events, but in dungeons it feels like a lot of work for very little payoff. That’s why phantasm builds (using sword+pistol or focus and a staff) are so popular: you can do pretty solid damage almost passively, while using your time to run around reviving and using your utility skills.

I just recently hit level 40 and picked up Deceptive Evasion and it changed the entire feel of the class for me. Whereas before I was struggling to get enough clones to shatter, now I’ve got all the clones I’ll ever need. I’m going a slightly different round, less Power, more utility, with 0/20/0/30/20. Blade Training, Deceptive Evasion, Persisting Images, Warden’s Feedback, Shattered Conditions, Master of Misdirection & Phantasmal Haste.

I’m just waiting now for level 60 or so where I can get a Sigil of Stamina and Shattered Conditions, which is a very powerful Trait imo.