Guild Wars 2

Hi, I might be asking for things I already know but I’d like some comfirimication atleast.

I’m having difficulties using my shatters right. Currently my mesmer is level 11 and I notice I do my mind wreck to late or too early, I seem to use the distortion shatter but I die anyway (using too late, or not working as intended?).
The daze shatter is supposed to make mobs not attack me for a brief moment right? When I use the skill they attack me anyway.

Last but not least, could somebody tell me what is the best trait build for lower level mesmer? Thanks for reading!

EDIT: Currently fighting with Gsword / sword torch and quite enjoying it.
P.s. I do not like staves for this proffesion.

At low level, the only reason to shatter is for some extra damage, recommend just mind wrack or cry of frustration, you really shouldn’t think of them as some sort of life saving spells.

If you don’t mind melee a bit, sword/sword is a good early setup, it is the only weapon with -40% cd on illusions at adept level.

Also, as much as you dislike staff, I will recommend it early on, it has the only clone deal damage(random conditions from staff auto) on early game. Chaos storm is also far more reliable diversion/distortion, both for offense and defense.

As for traits, start with dueling, because it is your main supply of vigor and precision worth a bit more early game, then 5 into illusion, then rest is up to your playstyle.

Try kiting and not relying on Diversion or Distortion. If you want those to do more than a 1 sec duration you have to get really good at placing you clones and phantasms so they don’t detonate at the same time. This will take lots of practice, so in the mean time get good at dodging and kiting. Both will be useful now and even moreso at higher levels. As for mind wrack, you are probably killing things too quickly right now, so focus on learning timing there when you are facing tougher mobs like Veterans. The big key to learn is watching your opponents health bar and keeping an eye on your clones and phantasms. Remember there is a delay before they blow up, according to how far they need to travel to get there. Again practice will help with this.

As for traits, put the first five points into Illusions, then since you are trying to be a shatter mesmer it appears put 10 into Domination and get the increased damage for Mind Wrack. Then it is your choice til you hit level 40.

At 40 if you are continuing a Shatter build, respec and dump 20 into Dueling to get Deceptive Evasion. You will still want 5 into Illusions and 10 into Domination. I would go 5/20/0/0/5 at level 40 and then put the next 5 into Domination. After that things should start to get real easy if you have gotten the shatter timing down.

Shattering is a skill that will come to you with time and practice.

But yeah, you always want to be moving during a fight. Even when you’re using sword/torch, there really shouldn’t ever be times when you’re just standing there attacking something. Distortion and Daze can help a lot if you use them at the right times. Daze is a really good interrupt in both pve and pvp settings and Distortion has saved my life far more times than I can count. But you need to be dodging and kiting too.

It will also take you a while before you have access to traits that will really help you. Mesmers tend to have a reputation of being really kittenty to level at low levels.

What EnRohbi said re: moving – do it. All the time. Kiting is your FRIEND. Also with the Shatters, it really starts to come into its own after Lvl 40 or so, when your traits start to stack up properly. Until then practice the fundamentals of kiting and dodging – kiting will actually spare you from a great deal of damage since many mobs pause to swing at you and if you’re constantly circle-strafing they’ll miss over and over. When you get swarmed a well-timed dodge will get you some distance – pop a clone and most of the time the mob will pause to attack IT instead of you. If you get in the habit of dodging, when you get Deceptive Evasion (dodging = a clone pops out), it feels like easy mode, since you no longer need a button press to make a fresh, distracting clone! Add in Illusionary Persona (Illusions XI, I believe) and you, in effect, become a fourth clone when Shattering which means more damage, especially when you have all 3 clones already deployed…

You got some good answerers already, most come down to understand the mecanics. Il add my shatter tutorial for the burst combo setup. Enjoy.

/Osicat

Put your first 5 points into Illusions.
Staff is probably overall the best weapon for a Mesmer.

Xavi.6591:

Put your first 5 points into Illusions.
Staff is probably overall the best weapon for a Mesmer.

I wouldnt be so blunt, it may be one of the best but you cant say it is the best, MH sword is an extremely powerful weapon for mes as well as the others, it all depends on your build and play styles