Guild Wars 2

So yeah, I’ve been wanting to make a mesmer……but I keep hearing they’re horrid in PVE and yet everyone’s complaints seem to focus solely on DE orr farming. So would that weakness only bother me if I cared about Orr farming (I don’t, at all) or should I know anything ahead of time about PVE in general for mesmers?

Well, if you ever see someone complaining just about anything but Orr DE as mesmer, know that this person either acting as northern mythical character, either undergeared as hell and traited badly.

I’ve had -0- issues in any aspect of PvE (edited to say PvE which I intended) with my mesmer. In fact there is very little you can’t solo. You might not rip through mobs as fast as other classes, or be as tough, but it’s definitely all very doable.

Just be sure to use all the tools at your disposal.

My mesmer is only lvl 38 yet but I can´t complain about pve at all, yet. Quite the contrary.
And since I really hate orr and dont even want to think about farming there with ANY char I guess I´ll be fine, even in higher lvls
Dungeons: also an aspect of pve I only tested yesterday. (ac story and explo all 3 ways)
In my mates and my opinion I did pretty well, even if I only was 35-ish.
… well… for higher lvl I can only speak out of my guardians perspective. I love having a decent mesmer with me, who roughly knows what he´s doing

i stil strugle between the 3 scholar classes who is best ad pve

but all seems to have so very low damege output that its hard to keep going
i also try guardian

but he hit 2x harder then any scholar class and with all his buffs and so on he can take on many mobs

if i try with my mesmer lets say 4 mobs i cant do it i die to fast and with the low damege i cant kill fast to -.-

so i dunno what do do ?? ad pvp i have np mesmer is rely good there
but pve omg some times i can cry

but maby am not good to play a scholar class ad GW2 its stil totaly difrent then any old mmorpg

Mesmer is just rather annoying to level at the start, it gets better. They are fine in PVE, you might lack some AoE in dungeons, but that’s about it.

Only limitation of Mesmers outside of Orr farming in PvE is the lack of a passive run speed signet which is very very important to some people.

Getting close to 80 now on my Mesmer, and I have to say it’s a lot better. Lower levels for PvE was horrendous, but now it’s great.

Low levels are going to suck. Just grind through it, and you are rewarded with a great profession.

If you’re not impatient about getting your legendary, you don’t need to farm Orr DEs. Don’t forget you can get Jugs of Liquid Karma from Daily/Monthly Achievements, and you use Karma Boosters on them, so save a bunch and use them all at once on a booster. You can also get karmas from dungeons, if you’re a fan of dungeons. PvE is fine as a mesmer, as long as you enjoy the profession and the game.

If you run a heavy support build and you’re not in a group, you will have a hard time tagging mobs. This is true of many classes.

I’ve mained a Mesmer since launch and I’ve got to say that I love it. Yeah, mob tagging in the super zergs in Orr kinda sucks, but even then it’s not awful. And if you ever find yourself separated from the pack you’ve got good survivability. I can often solo Champions in lower level content and almost always solo veterans (although there are two in Orr that just wipe the floor with me :P).

Mesmer lacks skills that can reliably do enough damage to the mobs that spawn to “tag” them for loot drops, since you need to hit them all at once and for enough damage to count for loot. I’m talking about the DEs where large numbers of mobs spawn and the entire zerg just wipes them out in seconds. Warriors and Guardians are probably best for this since they can just Whirling Wrath or Whriling Axe but Mesmers and Thieves get shafted pretty badly. The best you can do really is use Blurred Frenzy and hope to tag a bunch of mobs as they run by.

Harbinger.8637:

Getting close to 80 now on my Mesmer, and I have to say it’s a lot better. Lower levels for PvE was horrendous, but now it’s great.

Low levels are going to suck. Just grind through it, and you are rewarded with a great profession.

I’ve noticed this as well in levelling a second mesmer. It’s not even as good as a scaled level 80 who’s not wearing armour. There’s definitely a bit of a lull in the mid-levels, but it still has quite nice utility – albeit a bit light on party support beyond condition removal.

I run a GS and sword/focus build with no problems in tagging or farming in Orr or any event. Usually I send in an iBerserker followed by a shatter after it whirls through the group to tag a good amount of the mobs. If I really ‘need’ to do something drastic to tag, I send out my Mistfire Wolf or a golem(very rare for either since i like to use em for kicks since my elite skill tends to be Mass Invisibility to move de groups around). Lv40 is the magic number when mesmer gets good at leveling.

Thanks for all the info so far everyone.

“Celestina.2894
So yeah, I’ve been wanting to make a mesmer……but I keep hearing they’re horrid in PVE and yet everyone’s complaints seem to focus solely on DE orr farming. So would that weakness only bother me if I cared about Orr farming (I don’t, at all) or should I know anything ahead of time about PVE in general for mesmers?”

I’d have to ask you first: Why have you been wanting to make a Mesmer?" In the first place.

Sword mesmer is the solution to all your problems.

You have to learn to melee-kite and time your dodges/blurred frenzies though.
I prefer another sword in off hand for extra survivability/burst (riposte).
But seriously, you do great aoe damage and can survive any burst timing your distortions. Soaking sustained damage isn’t much problem either since you have permanent regeneration if traited (you are always in melee range close to your phantasms). Secondary weapon GS of course, since you don’t have condition damage and Iberserker is a wonderful aoe nuke. Though Staff might have some merit with the boons and defensive qualities.

Just thought I’d drop an update. My mesmer is level 19 so far, staff/GS and charr.

Having a blast, more so then with any other profession I have tried.

Dual sword mesmer seems good, if they would fix the clone a bit, It would be better. Shame you cant use Pistol/torch as second set. I wouldn’t say it’s easy but I can see potential in that build, good aoe and can survive a lot, just not always :P

I would imagine as you get more slot skills traits it becomes more manageable.

The thing I don’t get is why we start so “high level” as DEs in Orr.
Yes we “work” in other areas of the game, but let’s be honest here: We have more underlying issues.

Our trait setup is a huuuuuge mess.

That alone already makes any other balance discussion for us redundant IMO, because changes here will affect our balance in all areas of the game.

Yet it is quite important that we get some changes here:

• Our traitlines don’t seem to “focus” properly. There’s some faint signs of a future (or long past) focus, like Domination on overpowering and binary debuffs or Inspiration on Healing and Phantasms, but there’s so many traits which are placed in a weird way, don’t fit the class at all, don’t project the idea of the trait line or it’s enhanced weapons, misplaced weapon traits, etc.
• Speaking of our weapon traits, why are they all +50 stat, -20% CD? Why so boring?
• Speaking of weird trait lines, shouldn’t each trait line not only focus on a handful of things, but also promote it’s “style” to as many different skills as possible, promoting diversity in gameplay (i.e.: if I spec Domination, I’m not forced to use a GS or a Torch). Stuff like Domination having a minor which makes any binary debuff caused (including Vulnerability) also apply 1 stack of Vulnerability, Dueling making debuffs able to crit, Inspiration causing Clones to do real damage, bla bla bla.

Basically, I think our trait system needs very extensive reworks. Our GM traits are more or less all worthy of being trashed entirely (even HM, since it just causes power-scaling issues for Mantras).

As a GS mesmer with full exos i notice my DPS is typically on par or better than most other people in my groups. My only determining factor though is when we have to split up to kill mobs like COF. My mob is usually down first or right around the same time as the other fastest person. Ive never been last or slow there so I assume there is no issue. Best thing i can tell you about being a GS mes, dont go condition specced, and stack the crap out of power and +crit. Also go clone heavy/shatter as phantasms just dont stay alive long enough on 99% of pulls to be worth traiting.

The thing I love about mesmer is how active I am in every battle. Usually using almost every skill and utility that I can during fights. I actually feel I am fighting when I am playing my mesmer. It makes the battles fun. The longer a battle goes with my mesmer the more fun I am having.

I think the issue with Mesmers in PvE is not that they can’t do it but more that they have to work harder to get things done than a lot of other professions. But if you’re willing to work a little harder it’s more than doable. I will say Orr is irritating as a mesmer or probably any profession regardless with all those annoying zombies that pull you towards them all over

The only problem with Orr is the difficulty to tag mobs. It can be offset by knowing the events (where exactly the mobs spawn), joining a group… etc.

But traveling in Orr sure is an advantage of mesmer. I never had any difficulty getting to anywhere on the map. While the pulls/knockdowns/cripples/immoblize do suck, i think pretty much every other profession hated it. But we got Mantras! It is the solution to all things.

And for veteran mobs, as a mesmer you don’t even need to think – you always can solo it. Sometimes u might need to kite, sometimes u can straight melee it down. Somehow my mesmer can sustain way more hits than my engineer although both are using berserker set.

Coming from a lvl. 80 ranger, I rolled Mesmer and love it. I do have to say though that I had to adjust to my squishiness due to light armor by kiting a lot. Way more then I was use to my ranger and the trusty pet.. and distance, distance, distance..
But, aren’t the skills awesome.. lightning from a zweihaender.. can’t be beat…

Well, when I was doing the Battle for Claw Island mission, it was hell for me. Hated that mission and the risen would just gang up on my Mesmer, totally ignoring my clones.

LumAnth.5124:

Well, when I was doing the Battle for Claw Island mission, it was hell for me. Hated that mission and the risen would just gang up on my Mesmer, totally ignoring my clones.

I think it was a fun story quest. I did it on my first try without getting downed even once..

EasymodeX.4062:

Only limitation of Mesmers outside of Orr farming in PvE is the lack of a passive run speed signet which is very very important to some people.

Exactly this. Mesmer is strong everywhere except these two places:

1. Our AoE tagging abilities have a little ramp up time, but when farming Orr DE’s it’s usually too late to reliably tag mobs.

2. No passive run speed buff, only way to get is use 6x Runes of the Centaur (10s Swiftness when using a healing skill) + short cd Mirror or Mantra healing skill.

Besides that mesmers are strong at everything else. They’re the best class in the game for solo’ing champion mobs, and one of the strongest in pvp.

Can’t have it all I guess.

Depends on what PvE. Are you good at tagging mobs in DE? Eh. It’s harder then other professions. Are you asked for in dungeon groups? All. The. Time. More than a necro or thief can say at least. I’d say that’s toting for mesmer’s took kit in dungeons at least.

Qelris.6901:

LumAnth.5124:

Well, when I was doing the Battle for Claw Island mission, it was hell for me. Hated that mission and the risen would just gang up on my Mesmer, totally ignoring my clones.

I think it was a fun story quest. I did it on my first try without getting downed even once..

To be honest, almost all personal story line mobs would somehow manage to find me, even with 3 clones, Decoy…. It’s like they had a heat seeker

For trash mobs, mesmers kill them slightly slower than other classes.

However, when it comes to veterans or higher, especially bosses, I don’t know any other class that can do more damage than a mesmer.

I usually do up to 60k every several seconds (few secs before Arenanet nerfed them EDIT: TWICE! And people think our DPS is horrible yet Arenanet nerfs them… >.>) with my warlocks!

Mesmers aren’t a burst class like a thief or warrior, they need time to build up DPS.

Once they are there, I don’t know if thieves or warriors can DPS more than them.

Mobs Mesmers are amazing… from personal experience, you can just kite mobs all day, chain pulling and i’m no longer afraid of swarms like i used to with other classes… like almost ANY number i just tackle it, its kinda funny haha i dont even think about whether its risky or not anymore lol! u can just go on and on and actually mesmer aoe is so effective and there’s always aoe melting down mobs fast, and ur selected target even faster… pve champions are even easier as single targets are a joke for mesmers with multiple illusions up. Dungeon survivability is also amazing, always last standing and u can evade or protect against a lot of attacks xP as well yeah mesmers are very useful in teams

i run gs/staff and they complement each other well and ur cds always recharge after each weapon switch and keep up ur illusions and dps cycling… without even trying to keep illusions alive xD just lovely.. throughout all the levels never had issues and mesmer class kept me levelling in places 5-8 level higher so it was nutss…

Aggro: and i love getting aggro, when they come after me, i never die bc with all ur mesmer evasion, invisibility, displacement, projectile reflection and stunbreaking skills theres no way they can get u… its almost invincible plus unlimited mob kiting … sometimes i assign an illusion to one target each… other times just throw down a berserker and bounce attacks for aoe

dps hadn’t ever been an issue, even when ijust mained staff the dps speed in a place 8 level higher was almost the same as someone of the appropriate level and even some level 80s downscaled in the zone

zerg farming for the most part i actually never had issues with farming on mesmer.. all i need is my gs throw in a berserker early and it will tag almost everything with great dps.. sometmes when im slow i dont get one in, but its mostly when i try to wait for the mobs to clump up more… but launching it earlier always works. after that cd, i bounce a sword around and even rush up to use illusionary wave to tag more things… u could switch to staff and chaos storm but usually i reserve that for vets and champs that hit hard to help buff allies and protect illusions. Gs really was all i needed for each swarm wave. just timing it a bit earlier will tag a lot of things easily. my farming results from mesmer is no different from my other classes

style i think it comes down to your understanding and play style and way of thinking if u want to succeed with a mesmer or any other class in general in pve or pvp or wvw. each situation requires different tactics, set of thinking and even configuring ur skills to match.

build for pve id think mainly build power precision and condition damage (if u use a staff or other things) i have those three. plus some vit trait for heal conditions just so i dont hv to use null field to take up a slot all the time. toughness dolyak runes for armor but berseker gear seems to do really really well… i barely take much damage it seems XP but it gives great dps boost

During my levelling, i upgraded gear every 10 levels and in the beginning went with i think tough vit and boosted power and precision with traits. didnt have any damage issues

just use all ur skills and choose ur weapons wisely. keep kiting, moving and think on ur feet and mesmer suddenly becomes so effective in any situation

Guanglai Kangyi.4318:

Mesmer lacks skills that can reliably do enough damage to the mobs that spawn to “tag” them for loot drops, since you need to hit them all at once and for enough damage to count for loot. I’m talking about the DEs where large numbers of mobs spawn and the entire zerg just wipes them out in seconds. Warriors and Guardians are probably best for this since they can just Whirling Wrath or Whriling Axe but Mesmers and Thieves get shafted pretty badly. The best you can do really is use Blurred Frenzy and hope to tag a bunch of mobs as they run by.

No problem with that at all with my GS spec. My berserker whirls through a lot of mobs and the rest I tag with mindwrack and GS 2&3. If all that is on cooldown I just run in and 5. Sure, my engineer has an easier time, but not really that much.

Mesmer is one of the easiest professions to play. There are a lot of defensive abilities, allowing for glass cannon builds to be more viable.

Problem is people get used to playing a certain way in PvP and upset they can’t repeat that in PvE (since mobs target the Mesmer more often).

So in PvE, the glass cannon builds are just not intelligent if you’re not balancing out your defense.