Guild Wars 2

In an effort to play more “like a Mesmer,” I’m testing out a PU build in unranked. It’s surprising some people who where expecting the standard chrono. I’ve even won a couple of turns on the dueling servers.

This is not a build I’ve played much. Anyone available to teach it?

PS I’d love to play an interrupt build, but I’m not sure that’s within the realm of reasonable possibility.

I’m terrible at this game, but I’ve played a lot with PU builds. They’re excellent when you’re playing with people like me. I’ve also been experimenting with interrupt builds, with mixed results. Against some lineups, they’re amazing. Most, you’ll get more mileage with the meta build.

What specific questions do you have about either?

You can always play a Chaos/Inspiration/Chrono power build and take PU. It works just fine.

PU condition build is worthless because you need to give up either chrono or inspiration which is a deal breaker.

Another decent power build would be Domination/Inspiration/Chrono(probably the best power build). You can take power block which is still a pretty good interrupt trait. However, if you really want to interrupt, I suggest you play DP thief with pulmonary impact. It provides more damage more consistent interrupt.

Last, you can always play the same Illusion/Inspiration/Chrono trait line for a power build. The traits are the same as you took for the meta condition build. It works decent for power build as well. But it will never be as strong as the condition variant.

By your display name, an Ayn Rand fan? I don’t have specific questions so much as I’d like to see it played and/or duel against it.

That way I’d hope to get a better handle on how to play. I realize the meta build is more successful. Still, I’ve been playing quite a bit of GW1 lately and I’d like to play more like that style. It feels more “Mesmerish” to use a common neologism.

I don’t think PU Condition is worthless at all. It’s not quite as strong as meta maybe, but mainly it’s just that it’s less effective in team play. If you drop Inspiration for Chaos, you end up with a bit less sustain and certainly less Condi cleanses, but in exchange you get more Protection and Stealth.

In the end though, PU with Chaos just doesn’t synergize as well as the meta build does with Inspiration, especially for team play where Stealth is not nearly as strong as it is in 1v1s.

Torch actually brings a lot of AoE Burning now, but you can use it just as well with the meta build and not give up Inspiration.

The inherent weakness to Conditions for all builds without Inspiration has gotten somewhat better with the last patch: Null Field down to 25 second CD and Arcane Thievery down to 20 second CD (traited) and both have good synergy with Chaos.

You simply can not delude yourself into thinking that you can play a PU Condie build the same way that you play the meta Condie build. You just don’t have the on-point staying power and you’re much more reliant on Stealth for defense.

Windwalker.7421:

I don’t think PU Condition is worthless at all. It’s not quite as strong as meta maybe, but mainly it’s just that it’s less effective in team play. If you drop Inspiration for Chaos, you end up with a bit less sustain and certainly less Condi cleanses, but in exchange you get more Protection and Stealth.

In the end though, PU with Chaos just doesn’t synergize as well as the meta build does with Inspiration, especially for team play where Stealth is not nearly as strong as it is in 1v1s.

Torch actually brings a lot of AoE Burning now, but you can use it just as well with the meta build and not give up Inspiration.

The inherent weakness to Conditions for all builds without Inspiration has gotten somewhat better with the last patch: Null Field down to 25 second CD and Arcane Thievery down to 20 second CD (traited) and both have good synergy with Chaos.

You simply can not delude yourself into thinking that you can play a PU Condie build the same way that you play the meta Condie build. You just don’t have the on-point staying power and you’re much more reliant on Stealth for defense.

Just as you said, it is clear that PU condition brings nothing special to the table while sacrificing tons of sustain and utility in inspiration(no aoe condition cleanse, no distortion share, no 33% damage reduction and an extra phantasm). That is why I think it is worthless.

For power build, you can at least take domination and bring boon removal and more burst damage.

As for condition PU, you have to take stealth skills to make it worth. The only worthwhile one I can think of is torch stealth. If you take decoy, then you can’t condition cleanse because blink and portal and mandatory. Taking mass invis means you lose the strong utility in moa.

Update: I went and played my placement matches on core PU Mesmer. won 4 and lost 6, most of them close. Honestly, I probably wouldn’t have done a lot better on chrono.

Is core PU a reasonable build for PvP? Not really. I win some 1v1 and have some mobility but the lack of alacrity and slow shatters are huge hindrances.

Still, I want to play a Mesmer, not a warrior in light armor. I’ll soldier on and see if I can find a niche somewhere.

I am struggling with mesmer this season. It just feels so much weaker or maybe players learned how to counter it. I can’t 1v1 DH, warrior, druid, staff thief at all. The only thing I brought to the table are moa and portal. If I didn’t make the most of it, I feel very underpowered. Had a 1700 rating last season, only had 1400+ this season after 20 games.

I think I am playing warrior/druid this season instead. Just feel so much more useful in warrior/druid now.

Ithilwen.1529:

Update: I went and played my placement matches on core PU Mesmer. won 4 and lost 6, most of them close. Honestly, I probably wouldn’t have done a lot better on chrono.

Is core PU a reasonable build for PvP? Not really. I win some 1v1 and have some mobility but the lack of alacrity and slow shatters are huge hindrances.

Still, I want to play a Mesmer, not a warrior in light armor. I’ll soldier on and see if I can find a niche somewhere.

I don’t know about core, but I’ve had some moderate success with Chrono/PU.

If I were going to drop chrono, I’d probably work dueling in there, likeso

Viper can be substituted for something with some survivability. Portal can be substituted for something like veil (which can act as a lesser mass invis), but I wouldn’t recommend it.

For interrupt builds, what I’ve roughly been testing has been

There’s a lot of work to do with it though. I’ve had trouble with guardians and warriors while playing the interrupt build, but after some testing, I think that you can usually beat both if you know what you’re doing. I’m not sold on the worth of mistrust yet. It’s definitely a fun build, because of just how long you can keep someone disabled.

Haven’t been playing too much of Season6, but this season I decided to rebuild the old Mantra Lockdown build. So I bye Dueling and Harmonious Mantra’s.

At first, I tried making the build access as much quickness/slow as possible, with Time Warp, Temporal Enchanter, Furious Interruptions, Sieze the Moment, Sigils of Agility.. etc. It had its moments, but it still struggled. HoT powercreep is real.

Lockdown playstyle is a struggle with the powercreep that HoT brought to the table. Can’t do much about all the damage immunity, but I needed to do something about all that Stability boon spam. Can’t lock anything down that way.

Arcane Thievery cooldown was lowered, gave it try for the 1000th time and its still so buggy. (works ~1 out 5 times) It just seems to behave like “Magic Bullet”.. has a very narrow cone and if you are turning during cast, or the target moves left/right .. the AT projectile misses. (I know AT is not a projectile, but it sure seems to exhibit a slow moving projectile.)

So AT went to the curb. So then I see the recent change to our phantasm spells (they now have an initial cast). “Phantasmal Disenchanter”> 20 second CD and removes 2 boons upon cast!!!! And from my experience, stability is one of the first to go!

Other nice thing about it, its an Illusion spell. As long as I have a target, I can be running this way and that (and backwards) and it does its job. (2 boons removed.)

Borrow some traits from Condi-Chrono (Chromophantasma, Mental Defense, Illusionary Reversion, Restorative Illusions and not only does Phantasmal Disenchanter remove boons/condi’s… it’s ammunition(twice) for shatters. AT, Mantra of Resolve and Null Field can’t do that.

Not that I’m storming up the S6 ladder, but I’ve been kind of having fun again. The enemy appears in shock when Illusionary Wave sends them flying or a well timed stun from Confounding Suggestions/Tides of Time hits them.

Last night, I took on a DH and Necro (both standing on point) at the same time with a Disenchanter>Gravity Well>"quickened" Blurred Frenzy>Mind Wrack>Distortion/PowerBlock sequence. I dodged away so fast….thinking traps/wells were coming and was shocked they were both down.

Maybe someone with more playtime can refine the build a little more.. http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAR8encfClph1oBGqBEgilTjqeav2t9sKiirjMAWggC-TZBFABq/EAK4CAIeZAAOIAwv/AA

I’m currently running just under 46% wins on core PU Mesmer. That’s an improvement over last season, I think. Gonna keep pushing.

SlimChance.6593:

Maybe someone with more playtime can refine the build a little more.. http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAR8encfClph1oBGqBEgilTjqeav2t9sKiirjMAWggC-TZBFABq/EAK4CAIeZAAOIAwv/AA

Okay so here are the changes that I made:

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAW8an0nBNqh1oBGqBEgilTjqeav2t98JiirjMAWggC-T5wHAB0XG4s9HA4IAAA

Okay, so first I switched to staff if only for personal reasons. IMO, staff is a better CC weapon with more kiting availability than GS, but if you’re more comfortable with GS5, then I think it could also works.

Shield to pistol is, again, a personal choice of mine. Less survivability, but more range for the interrupt.

I switched blink for decoy, and well for mantra as far as healing goes, the rest remained unchange. Decoy will enable a safer recharge of your mantras and I made the build more mantra oriented through inspiration “Restorative mantra” this gives you heal even through mantra of distraction, which can really come in handy. Mantra of recovery will also be more powerful that way, with a heal on channel on top of the two charges.

To go further on the specs, I did not change many things. Domination is as straightforward as it goes, and beyond switching Persisting Image for Restorative Mantra, I left the insp. line the same.

What changed was the Chronomancer line. Time catches up became Delayed Reaction for the slow on interrupt and moved IReversion for IAlacrity to have a faster access to your lockdown (which is the mandatory component of the build).

For the equipment, I value Pal. more than Marauder amulet. The difference in power is roughly the same, but the additional toughness can make a difference. Beyond that, you’re not lookin at having the most power build ever available, but something that can reliably shut down opponent and create a sense of panic in a team fight. I feel that Paladin fill that role better.

Also, when dealing with niche builds whose role is a bit more nebulous, I really have a preference for traveler. Fill up the missing stats (vit, toughness) nicely and fluff the damage while adding a permanent 25% increase speed (I’ll have to see whether or not it adds or just doesn’t pop into effect with the minor of chronomancer otherwise Leadership might prove more useful) boon duration is never to sneeze at.

This makes you able to put a different sigil (Energy, fire, air, doom, generosity).

Is it viable? I have no idea, not tested yet, but I’ll definitely have my fun once exams go away.

Pepsi.8907:

SlimChance.6593:

Maybe someone with more playtime can refine the build a little more.. http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAR8encfClph1oBGqBEgilTjqeav2t9sKiirjMAWggC-TZBFABq/EAK4CAIeZAAOIAwv/AA

Okay so here are the changes that I made:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAW8an0nBNqh1oBGqBEgilTj68JiirjMAWggqOaz2tF-TpBFAB/XGYhLAQbPAABOCAAcQAkb/BA

Okay, so first I switched to staff if only for personal reasons. IMO, staff is a better CC weapon with more kiting availability than GS, but if you’re more comfortable with GS5, then I think it could also works.

Shield to pistol is, again, a personal choice of mine. Less survivability, but more range for the interrupt.

I switched blink for decoy, and well for mantra as far as healing goes, the rest remained unchange. Decoy will enable a safer recharge of your mantras and I made the build more mantra oriented through inspiration “Restorative mantra” this gives you heal even through mantra of distraction, which can really come in handy. Mantra of recovery will also be more powerful that way, with a heal on channel on top of the two charges.

To go further on the specs, I did not change many things. Domination is as straightforward as it goes, and beyond switching Persisting Image for Restorative Mantra, I left the insp. line the same.

What changed was the Chronomancer line. Time catches up became Delayed Reaction for the slow on interrupt and moved IReversion for IAlacrity to have a faster access to your lockdown (which is the mandatory component of the build).

For the equipment, I value Pal. more than Marauder amulet. The difference in power is roughly the same, but the additional toughness can make a difference. Beyond that, you’re not lookin at having the most power build ever available, but something that can reliably shut down opponent and create a sense of panic in a team fight. I feel that Paladin fill that role better.

Also, when dealing with niche builds whose role is a bit more nebulous, I really have a preference for traveler. Fill up the missing stats (vit, toughness) nicely and fluff the damage while adding a permanent 25% increase speed (I’ll have to see whether or not it adds or just doesn’t pop into effect with the minor of chronomancer otherwise Leadership might prove more useful) boon duration is never to sneeze at.

This makes you able to put a different sigil (Energy, fire, air, doom, generosity).

Is it viable? I have no idea, not tested yet, but I’ll definitely have my fun once exams go away.

I’ve been having a lot of success with the following PU build in the past week.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAW7fnsICNqh9pB2qBcrhlXjqeYP2l1sDmhRANAypnD-TZRHABB8QA8uMgQ7PAwFAYgjAAA

There’s a lot of room for switching things up for personal playstyle, but the important things are keeping PU and the Pledge, of course.