Guild Wars 2

Hello fellow mesmer,

we recently started doing pvp as a team again (started over a year but lost a few members due to guild change).
I played mesmer since the beginning of GW2 and after doing pve content like personal story and dungeons I discovered pvp and am still doing pvp since almost three years.

During the few tournaments we took part in I played shatter mesmer and nothing else. Nowadays when I play alone or with a few members I play support-boonshare mesmer with marauder or cleric. Last test game versus an much experienced guild lead to a discusion about our mistakes and what could be improved so they pointed out thet a support-oriented build on a “only damage” class like mesmer doesn’t make sense and that I would be more usefull if I play shatter.

There are two problems with that: first I don’t like GS. It feels clunky and just doesn’t fit my play style. Second is I’m sick of playing shatter since I played shatter 99% of the time I did pvp.

So tl;dr: is there ANY viable build besides shatter mesmer for pvp?

Lockdown, more potent than shatter when you’ve learned the ropes, adds more “support” through control and frustrating the enemies, the best condition the game has to offer. Takes time to master however, and you will stink at it initially, so expect to invest a few months to half a year before you get anywhere near remotely decent and consistent with the mindset. Then again, it took a few months before you got anywhere near remotely decent and consistent with Mesmer as a profession in the first place, starting out, like it did for all of us who loves this profession—so what’s a few more?

Note that you obviously need to get used to the idea of still shattering. Shattering is as key a mechanic to Mesmer, as interrupts has been a core mechanic since our Guild Wars days. Sometimes you will want your illusions to provide pressure however. Look at the situation and learn when you benefit more from leaving them out, and when you want to use them to either interrupt further, deal damage or as avoidance through Distortion.

Mesmer is also not a “only damage” profession, no profession needs to be. Tell your friends to get their heads out of their cracks. But I will agree with them that if your build can’t hold its own, it’s a liability to the team. Every build needs to function on its own to some extent.

Edit: —"Kitten kitten kitten kitten. Kitten this kitten kitten kitten meow kitten kitten filter."

We’ve got
Full Power Burst Shatter
Various forms of Lockdown
Marauder Boonshare Support
Condition Shatter

and soon Chronomancer variants

Some are better than others depending on the situation and possible team comps. Also often you’ll face a plethora of non-mesmers telling you, a mesmer main, how mesmer really works -_-u