Guild Wars 2

Hello fellow Mesmers,

Several times in our forum I read about that Mesmer can solo fractals an dungeons, and I would really like to try this on my own. But because my experiance in this mattery is so low I would like to ask You for an advise:
- what build should I use,
- how to use it,
- have U got any advice what I should lokk out for,

Thanks for any advice.

If you are soloing dungeons then the most important thing is to know the dungeon extremely well. Large parts of dungeons can be skipped quite easily as a mesmer, and even easier as a chrono, due to stealth and blinks. So most important is knowing which parts you can skip. In order to skip, I would bring torch, blink, veil, mimic. For the actual fights (if you are skipping properly it should mostly be the bosses and nothing else), I would run a scepter condition build and bring shield for more survivability.

You have to keep in mind though that you will need to change your build between skipping and actually fighting. Bring the inspiration line when fighting, because the heals on shatters will save your life. Trait scepter to keep more stacks of torment and confusion up on the boss, and because when traited you have a ~2 sec block on a ~4.5 sec CD. Invaluable to solo more difficult fights IMO. As for actual traits, bring what works best with your preferred playstyle. Just load the boss up with conditions and kite them. Shatter appropriately (eg cry of frustration is of more use to heal you than to apply confusion if you are using a scepter). Other than that its just practice. Bring a tanky build. Knights gear is very good at keeping you alive but doesn’t give you any condition damage. Shaman gear doesn’t give you toughness, but gives you vitality, condition damage and healing power. So it can also keep you alive in a fight quite easily. For runes get whatever you want. I use 6 runes of nightmare because they are cheap and give you a nice condition boost, but you might get more use out of runes that help you skip parts of the dungeons.

Fractals are a different matter. Not all of them can even be soloed first off. Of the ones that can, you have to really have the mechanics down. And I would build a tanky build, again probably knights or shamans, or even something tankier like nomads if you don’t mind every fight taking forever. I would again take inspiration for the healing when shattering but the other line is up to your build depending on whether you want power or condition damage.

I am going to have to heavily disagree with the above post. Yes knowledge is important. Here is a great resource for knowledge: http://gw2dungeons.net/

However, most of the builds used to solo dungeons are very close to the meta raid builds/gear although some exceptions. Important changes are sigils. Sigil of night, force, slaying for zerker builds but also weapon swap sigils of energy and paralyzation potentially for more dodges and soloing a breakbar.
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Bowl_of_Orrian_Truffle_and_Meat_Stew
That also helps a lot with more endurance recharge as you learn to dodge attacks.

Assassins/zerker gear since REFLECTS are based off of precision, ferocity and damage modifiers and huge chunk of knowing Mesmers in dungeons is knowing when to reflect.

With that in mind, chrono/mesmer has some of the biggest changes from the raid builds to what you want to use in dungeon solos. Phantasms aren’t affected by sigil and rune % modifiers but they are affected by raw stats and therefore might. Therefore, using a sigil of strength in a solo setting can be a 10-20% boost (depends on bonus might duration) for both you and your phantasms while a sigil of force is only a 5% for the Mesmer. However, might doesn’t affect your reflect damage. Dueling is the better DPS line for solo than Domination as it gives fury to both you and the phantasms and ferocity bonus and a shorter CD on blurred frenzy. This further boosts reflects from you and the warden. Inspiration with wardens is a given for the reflects (NOT for shatter healing sustain) and a bit longer feedback. If you really need sustain, summon 3 phantasms and spam MoP for heals (arah p1, 2nd bosses come to mind for the healing). Illusions for phantasmal haste for reflect uptime and potential scepter use.

If you really need to sustain/kite but no reflects are needed, Zerker Sc/Sw + Sword/Shield to block forever. Dueling, illusions and chrono reduces Sc and Sw CD like crazy (40% CD and then alacrity on top of that). With vigor and food for more endurance regeneration, nomads should never be needed. Cavalier or valkyrie if you need the defense with Fury and Danger Time to make up for the weak crit chance. Never go nomads. I won’t claim it’s not possible but just don’t do that to yourself. Condi is another viable option for DPS if you need some defense and reflects aren’t needed. A mix of rabid, sinister, viper and wanderer will get you any extra toughness you need. Shaman is a waste too Don’t skimp on precision for condi builds. Go Dueling, Chaos, Chrono. or Dueling, Chaos, Illusions.

For a bit of perspective on toughness and vitality in PvE:
Vitality is for not dying if you mess up 1 or 2 dodges/blocks in a row (or niche necro builds). In super long fights where you try to trade blows with bosses, and they will be super long fights in nomads, vitality is useless because what matters is sustain (damage reduction and repair). Going full toughness is damage reduction of about 40%. Protection is 33%, Food can be 10% and bonus toughness. Chaos traits give another 9%. And the phantasmal defender gives another 33%. Dungeon potions also give 10% damage reduction. Never max out toughness before looking at those options while wearing glassy gear. At minimum, lemongrass mussel pasta and a dungeon potion = 23% damage reduction to a full glass character. Just bring a phantasmal defender and you have more DR than a full toughness geared character. Spam MoP to heal yourself before shattering away your sustained DPS or grabbing healing gear.
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Bowl_of_Lemongrass_Mussel_Pasta

TLDR: Never go nomads or full tank. Zerker/assassins for reflects and learn to use your abilities. Condi builds are a decent option when you don’t need reflects. Multiple weapons with different sigils and the right consumables in a 20 slot invis bag are way more effective at changing the function of your build than crafting/swapping to a full set of tank gear. If you are concerned with some foods being too expensive, keep in mind how much it costs to craft a new set of gear. Is 20 slots of nomads or whatever gear worth it compared to 2 slots for food?

I solo’d a couple Fractals in Soldiers gear…

It’s really not as difficult as the above posts make it out to be.