Guild Wars 2

… so I decided to make one. I prefer casting classes, and this one seems to have multiple choices for that. Now bear in mind, my messer is only in her teens, but wow, I’m finding her really hard to play without dying over and over.

I’m sure it’s something I’m not doing right on my end, so would appreciate any suggestions you could offer to help me with survivability.

Ironically, I’ve levelled an ele to 80 as my main — a class folks complain all over these forums as tough to survive/play — but where I found the ele easy to play/survive, I’m finding it difficult with my messer.

Lol, it’s frustrating me to no end and I really want to enjoy/play this class.

I actually went the opposite route and have a Mesmer at 80 as my main with a level 30ish Ele. Ironically, I still find Elementalist easier to survive with.

Low level Mesmers are suffering. This is just a simple fact – And there are a couple things you can do to try and alleviate this, but it never stops being suffering until you hit level 40, at which point the suffering is lessened with each level you get closer to 80.

But at low levels, Mesmer has the same kind of advice issue it will have at higher levels – Playstyle.

I would personally advise grabbing a GS and just kiting all day with GS2 and GS4, using GS5 when they get too close.

Others would say “staff is better for survivability” due to Staff2 getting you out of dodge quick and letting it bounce and tick. Also, the clones bounce and tick.

Others still will suggest “go scepter/sword”, because this gives you a ranged option which generates clones for shatters, a high damaging phantasm, and two block skills – Between those and your dodging and running about, survivability is great, even at low levels.

The problem with all of these is that what you choose is pretty dependent on how you play. I cannot play scepter/sword to save my life because I abhor 1v1 or 1v2 focused playing styles, and it feels very ‘duelist’ to me. The staff is a great back up for me, and it always had tons of survivability, but sometimes I’m left feeling entirely unloved when it comes to tagging credit for kills. etc.

But those are some options to try. Most of Mesmer’s survivability comes from just not getting hit – But since we lack run speed like Ele has, kiting is a bit harder. In exchange, you could say that our goal is to send in clones and phantasms first to let them take the hits – A sound strategy for the most part, but it’s hit or miss as to how effective it is over any span of time.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Lazy-Kai-s-guide-to-PvE/first#post852161

This thread maybe? I’m only at level 40 on my mesmer, so I can’t give the best advice.

One thing I would do, though, is get Blink and Decoy as your utilities. They can get you out of some sticky situations easily in PvE (as well as PvP).

Also, greatsword seems to be a fairly good leveling tool, with an AOE knockback and the zerker. Either run that or a staff, which gives you the shield on the 4, the away-from-enemy blink on the 2, and an AOE field on the 5. Also try running mainhand sword as a secondary, because the number 2 gives you a few seconds of Distortion, which can be used both defensively and offensively. Offhand could be pistol (for more damage), or focus, depending on which you like better. Focus is nice for getting around, and pistol 5 is useful for interrupts and the duelist.

Also, kite. Lots of kiting.

I think two big things which keep you alive are kiting and clones. I learned quickly to play with a strafe strategy, and let my clones handle the melee range. You just have to be willing to walk in circles around the enemy. At higher levels you can spec yourself to some less mobile builds.

For Mesmers survival in PvE is very easy, but takes getting used to. Your Clones are your defence. Enemies will spend time attacking them, time they’re not hitting you (in other words, keep pumping those clones).

A very good thing to aim for is 20 Duelling, giving you clones whenever you dodge.

I’d also recommend 20 points for dueling to get you deceptive evasion. This also ensures that you get the passive trait of gaining vigor on crit’s. This saved me so much =).

Greatsword and Staff are both great for keeping distance (knockback or a retreating blink). Just don’t forget that you have F4 for the distortion shatter. It may not do damage but you get a few seconds of invulnerability which should give you enough time to get another clone on the field.

With messies – as I play one – Its about: Clones, Swords (you can push waves of enemies back) and teleport skills to gtf0 out of there.

there so easy to play, now in gw they were a challenge.

I agree with scepter/sword — I ran that for a loooong time, because the two blocks + your dodge rolling is enough to keep you from taking too much damage. Plus, it kind of forces you into the game mechanics a little more (ie, watching for the tells of mobs about to lay down a big hit), which is incredibly helpful once you get into higher-level content where you’re expected to know that already.

I switched to a shatter build recently that uses sword / pistol and does a lot more damage but I’m not sure how viable that is at lower levels. Certainly the sword-2 skill is useful if timed appropriately, regardless of what build you’re running — the distortion it gives (or the F4 shatter, which does the same thing) is equivalent to a dodge for avoiding big damage.

As darkrequiem said — 20 duelling gives you a clone on dodge, and gives you vigor (= moar dodge!). There’s a trait somewhere else (I think 10 points in inspiration) that also gives you vigor when you shatter clones, so that’s useful too.

The more I’ve played, the more I realise how important timing is to successful mesmer play — shattering clones is great for >insert shatter effect of choice<, but you better have thought ahead and have an escape plan ready because your clones are frequently tanking something for you and once they all go poof you’re going to have a bunch of angry things coming down on your head…and just like GW1, we are quite fragile if we sit around to take the hits!

GS v Staff — I’ve never quite understood the love for the GS, but I may just not be playing it properly — I knock them back, and then they come at me again, and now my knockback’s on CD. I think the important thing with this is to use the clone-generating one (where you hurl the sword at them) when they’re far away, so that if they go after the clone you’ve got distance, and if they come after you your clone has distance. That being said, I vastly prefer the staff for survival. Chaos armor is amazing, and you can get it both off the 4 skill, and from putting down chaos storm (5) and teleporting back out of the field (2). And the buffs from the chaos storm, if you stay in long enough to pick them up, are usually excellent defensively.

ihrayeep.3805:

GS v Staff — I’ve never quite understood the love for the GS, but I may just not be playing it properly — I knock them back, and then they come at me again, and now my knockback’s on CD. I think the important thing with this is to use the clone-generating one (where you hurl the sword at them) when they’re far away, so that if they go after the clone you’ve got distance, and if they come after you your clone has distance.

I think the aspect you’re missing is the part where you’re… not standing still like a targeting dummy in lion’s arch. Berserker’s cripple keeps targets perma-crippled more or less, making kiting entire hordes of things easy. Also, the auto-attack is meant to be used at long range.

Why on earth would you ever knock something back and stand still in the first place? I rarely even need to use my knockback. It’s like a panic button.

I never had any problems surviving with my mesmer, but it did take me a long time to settle into a particular weapon set. At first I wasn’t thrilled with the staff because I thought I was just applying random conditions that weren’t helping me kill mobs, like slow, daze, etc., but really, most of the conditions ARE damaging, like bleed, burn, and poison. It’s basically a DoT weapon.

I suggest trying the staff, opening a fight with Phase Retreat and Phantasmal Warlock, then PR again when it’s off CD. Mind Wrack and/or Cry of Frustration are good to throw in there when necessary. And don’t be afraid to use skills 4 and 5, despite their CDs.

Once you get some trait points, I’d go with Illusion first, because it reduces the CD of illusion-creating skills, which is very helpful.

the problem with mesmer is you have very few methods to survive, and it’s heavily dependent on your build.

for a shatter build you will heavily rely on Distortion to survive, and i recommend taking Illusionary Persona grandmaster major trait, it will most likely also be mandatory that you take mirror images to spawn 2 clones instantly, for a heal skill you will find that Mirror is better than Ether feast.

another route is through natural defenses, in which case you will have to heavily invest in Inspiration or Chaos or even both, and you really don’t have a choice other than using a staff because it’s the major source of utility and boons for the class, but in this case you will be mostly a support character.

another way would be control effects, and the mesmer has quite a lot of those, but they usually are single target, the mesmer has many many skills that daze, and 2 skills (i believe) that stun, but the challenge here would be striking balance between the weapon sets, and will require a good amount of skill to manage execution times and adapt to changes in the situation should you find yourself in a tight spot.

-relying on natural defenses is probably the easiest method to use but won’t net much damage.
-shatter builds are often hybrid builds, and are usually quite good at offense and defense, but it need a little more micro management than other methods.
-heavy control builds are much less forgiving since you’ll be essentially a glass cannon, unless you’re fighting 1 enemy in which case you just need to keep him at bay, you’ll are likely to use a greatsword for this.

Ayanavi.1904:

I think the aspect you’re missing is the part where you’re… not standing still like a targeting dummy in lion’s arch. Berserker’s cripple keeps targets perma-crippled more or less, making kiting entire hordes of things easy. Also, the auto-attack is meant to be used at long range.

Why on earth would you ever knock something back and stand still in the first place? I rarely even need to use my knockback. It’s like a panic button.

Touche, good sir, touche. For the most part I’ve managed to ditch my WoW stand-and-cast, but for some reason I hadn’t been there. And I’m clearly not using the berserker properly.

As I said though…GS is not my thing, and I leave the commentary on its merits to those for whom it IS a thing. Myself, I still stand by the staff as being a better defensive/survival option :-)

It’s actually the least played profession…

http://img.gawkerassets.com/post/9/2012/10/demographics.jpg

ihrayeep.3805:

Ayanavi.1904:

I think the aspect you’re missing is the part where you’re… not standing still like a targeting dummy in lion’s arch. Berserker’s cripple keeps targets perma-crippled more or less, making kiting entire hordes of things easy. Also, the auto-attack is meant to be used at long range.

Why on earth would you ever knock something back and stand still in the first place? I rarely even need to use my knockback. It’s like a panic button.

Touche, good sir, touche. For the most part I’ve managed to ditch my WoW stand-and-cast, but for some reason I hadn’t been there. And I’m clearly not using the berserker properly.

As I said though…GS is not my thing, and I leave the commentary on its merits to those for whom it IS a thing. Myself, I still stand by the staff as being a better defensive/survival option :-)

To add in some things without any snarky comments:

Mesmer requires a heavy amount of movement. I like that quite actually. I would say that if you don’t like GS (even though I love it) then Staff is very useful. Remember to constantly be on the move. If you are pve’ing think as if you were attempting to herd all the mobs that have engaged into a group. Reason being is that several of our attacks “bounce”. Another reason is shatter which is AOE damage. I highly recommend decoy. This gives you a quick aggro reset and sends the mob usually away from you and toward a decoy or a phantasm. It also sets up another clone. It can be used to get out of a root (unfortunately there often is a 1 second gap in removing the root). Rooting can be a knockdown, web, trap, and a variety of other issues. It can be a true lifesaver at best and at worst it is another clone.

Down the road I highly suggest the creating a clone when dodging. Even before getting that, dodge is your friend. Not just your friend, your lover. Pay attention to dodge and use it all the time.

Mesmer is fun and active. I know it’s not a stand and battle type, but if you can get into it you will find the frenetic nature of mesmer to be super fun.

During the beta events and into the first full month of release, Mesmers wern’t all that popular… so to speak. there was a ton of ele’s, war’s and thieves running around.. Now a days.. the popularity has shifted.

weapons make a big deal with dying. My mes is into the 50’s and the first 20 levels we’re horrid. I found that a condition build works wonders. Staff and scepter / pistol are my 2 most used weapon combos. Takes a tad longer then most classes to kill things, but when you’re kill 3 things at once and kiting, or fighting vet’s (kiting) it works itself out in the end. If you want a more power focused build.. greatswords are amazing =)

In my humble opinion, the lower levels have been extremely difficult. In no other game I have played have I died so much. This is due to a number of factors.

While I can take a Champion by kiting and having plenty of running room, I can also be killed by a single average mob my same level. I think this is a PVE scaling issue with this game. The mobs hit too hard, in many cases will ignore illusions and whichever and just keep coming. Which presents another theory which this game was scaled around other clases such as the Guardians, warriors, rangers and thieves as I see them blast through the content I struggle to survive.

In many zones trying to pull one person often pulls mobs of 3 or more. This may be a lower level only thing, sub 40 I suppose. In one zone I literally pulled the entire town. Again, having trouble with one mob, and now trying to take on 5, surprisingly I have survived in many cases but, I guess that depends on the reasonable amount of time it should take to clear. In some cases 5-10 minutes for 3 or 4 guys at once who cannot be pulled separately.

Lastly I like to solo content, I am not certain this class is very good at that, in the low levels. What I mean is, you can take down mobs but kiting and running around everywhere, works sometimes, other times you run into more mobs which then makes your target run off and go back to full health and/or the mobs you were trying to clear to get to an area, respawn so you must start all over… Makes that impossible without a suicide run. Which is hilarious when a guardian runs right past you, clears everything effortlessly and moves on.

Let me summarize from my point of view. I believe it is more technique than anything. Know your surroundings, try not to engage in close quarter combat, open fields are way better for offense. Try not to pull as many mobs, if a lot pull then use your abilities like clones and such to run away then try again. Dodge, dodge, dodge, no matter what you are hitting because you cannot take much damage. Always try and keep things at a distance especially big crazy looking monsters because the scale of the mob generally reflects the damage. it can do. And understand that you will die, die, die, die…. And then at some point you will not die as much then not at all. Prepare to invest a lot of time… Because of the kiting and running away as a means of offense can take a long, long time.

IMO there are two vastly different Mesmers: Pre 40 mesmers and Post 40 mesmers.

Pre 40 mesmers can be a little rough to level. Part of this is the adjustment to the mentality of just rushing straight into battle and trying to stand toe to toe with the mob. Most of it however is that many of our skills aren’t snyergized with our playstyle yet. Our traits effect us on a heavy level which snynergize very well with our play.

Once I hit 40 the more mobs that join the party the better. As long as I watch my surroundings and keep up on things I was fine and impressed with how much I handled. I can honestly say that most situations when I died were my mistake on just rushing in instead of just taking a quick moment to look at my surroundings and help use those to my advantage.

As stated the more mobs you have try to corral them together. Circle around them gathering them up. Pretend you are a hurricane (meaning circle, circle, circle). This can help get them close enough together. This allows your bouncing attacks to bounce well. If you have your clones coming back up off cooldown go for a shatter. Remember all your defensive tricks and use them for the right situation.

I am a big proponent for GS/Staff as it gives a great mix of defense and offense on both. Both bounce. I highly recommend for leveling the sigil of fire. This also gives added AoE and when you get things grouped together that aoe helps a bunch.

Clones don’t always hold aggro very well, however I do often see mobs switch to other targets when I do a knockback with GS. Not saying consistently but often enough.

Close quarter battles require alot more dodging and running back and forth. I would advise on the staff sigil of energy to help with having more dodges (I find when I am switching to staff I am usually doing it get away and get more defensive so having more dodges is adding to my defense).

I agree we kill things slower but not at a turtles crawl at all. I will gladly sacrifice some of that speed to have all the fun I am having with mesmer.

my mes is my first an still my main toon in pve n pvp. i think if anyone coming from a warrior-ish or theif-ish background these types of professions can b a lilo bit harder to play. Im playing an ele right now and i do agree that eles are easier to play n survive with. and i never understood the pre-lvl 30 or pre lvl40 play vs post. i had fun at all the lvls. i spent a lot of my time and money( when it was ur fist toon and and no money that was a big deal) retraiting playing around with skills. i had a ranger friend who laughed at me n said that doing that is a waste of time. i didn’t think so. the game was so new, how can one just go down one trait line and be satisfied with it. he just wanted to pepper mobs with arrows while his pet did all the tanking. ez mode i told him.

after playing around with all the weapons i setting on sword/sword n scepter/focus while lvling and went sword/focus and staff in dungeons. the GS looked great! on a light armor..but after a while the look wore off and it didnt sync with my play style while lvling. Sword does aoe on reg attacks and provide a good burst with the #2 skill. Blocks on sword n scepter skill provides good damage and iwarden on focus is still KING. f1-f4 are ur friends. learn to use them.

there some sound advice on this thread. heed them…i didnt start to play around with deceptive evasion until i was lvl 65-70ish, but in the end..it will come down to you and ur play style. hope u didnt come here to ez mode.

Hey Jayne, persist with ur mesmer- they really are a fun class to play.

For me, that moment when i realised that some mesmer weaps were meant to be used in the opposite way to their traditional use was an enlightenment. GS is a ranged weapon, staff is a close-combat weapon, sword/pistol/focus are close to mid-ranged.

With my GS, i always always auto-attack first. Why? To ensure that i have actual line-of-sight. If you don’t have LoS and you open with izerker or mirror blade, they won’t generate any illusions and will go on cooldown. As soon as that auto attack connects, it’s #4, #2 and #3 within a second or two, strafe whilst using #1 and shatter when mob is about 20% hp, 10% if u want to be sure.
If the mob starts heading for you, have #5 ready and immediately follow up with #4 for another high-dmg phantasm which cripples.

If you trait for ‘illusions inflict bleeding on critical hits’ and have decent crit chance, that’s some free damage right there (i used accuracy sigil to get + precision when i kill an enemy for some free crit rate).

For staff, i get in the mobs’ face, throw down chaos storm and iMage, pop #2 just before storm ends for free chaos armour and just circle the mob whilst bouncing dmg, boons and conditions. I’m not sure on the proper ratio of clones to iMages, but 2 clones to 1 mage seems to work for me due to the mages’ slow attack speed and reliance on variety of conditions.

Hope this helps, i’m starting to regain my feel for sword/pistol, but have neglected sceptre/anything for a while :/

I found this guide series to be very helpful for all situations. He really covers all of the ins and outs of the class.

http://youtu.be/7eZ0NNd7b60

When i started my mesmer it was awful and painful to play her in early levels, gladly memser gets better with levels but lot of ppl are impatient and quit it. It is very rewarding class if played right but it is all about quick combos, reactions, counters, movement. Not like when i played my warrior or thief, mash 3 bottons.

Hiya,

I have been playing a Mesmer since GW2 was released and I must agree with many of the posts here in that during the lower levels it is a painful and thankless task trying to crawl up through quests and event without dying as much as you do. What you will find however is that your ability to survive and fight effectively is based on how you you play your profession.

When I got to the latter levels I must admit things changed greatly and I got a long stronger which shows a strange inconsistency with the profession that needs looked into. It shouldn’t take you getting to the later levels to feel less squishy but it IS a common complaint.

I use and continue to use a Great Sword and a Pistol/Sword setup, it works for me and that’s all that matters. If you understand how your clones work and when they spawn based on your abilities then you very rarely have to change from the Great Sword during a fight #GS2 is the bread and butter of fighting with a Great Sword as it creates a clone right next to the enemy, that said in my experience you have to keep it going (get your berserker up, use knock back where appropriate), don’t use #GS2 then just spam #GS1 hoping to kill things. Be smart with your clones and let them work for you.

Don’t forget to shattteeeerrrrrrrrrr

Wanted to drop by and thank everyone for the feedback in this thread. I let my Messer lay idle for about a week, then after reading this thread, picked her back up again, and have finally found my groove with her! It was like a lightbulb suddenly going off after I hit about level 20 or so, so thank you everyone for the encouragement and advice. It’s greatly appreciated!