Guild Wars 2

So my first build worked well for solo farming and larger WvW groups but i still can’t really get into the melee mesmer as much as I can the ranged mesmer.. especially in WvW.. I honestly don’t know how these people lock down others to get blurred frenzy off so often.. i’d say 75% of the time they break out of the immobilize from illusionary leap and any mobile class I just can never lock down long enough to get the whole duration of the skill off(my reaction time just doesn’t seem quick enough). On top of all that i miss staff.. it’s probably my favorite weapon in the game. So in lieu of that I decided to keep my berserker gear and work on a build built around range. I settled in with GS/Staff as maybe i’m just not that great at playing a close-in mesmer with mostly berserker gear. Once i finish out this set Ill try more of a knight gear setup and revisit melee..
The Build for WvW
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQJARWlwziqHTzqGbNJipCBHKFgX2RSRrBblUMbXIA

The Build for PVE
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQJARWlwzCo3UzqGaNJipCBHKFgX2RSRrBblUgbXIA

Trait wise only difference is I swap to desperate decoy in WvW as in PVE i don’t get below 25% enough to feel the need for it.
So main difference between the builds is the utility skills.
My favorite rotation with this build is start with GS throw out your berserker—-> feedback bubble—-> mirror blade(which will give confusion)—-> run into the bubble and swap to staff—-> Phase retreat out to give chaos armor—-> mind wrack——>mirrior images—> dodge—->cry of frustration—->warlock—->chaos storm—->get in storm and phase retreat out for another chaos armor
looks long but is pretty easy to pull off and can do a lot of damage.. if after that whatever I’m fighting is still alive I switch to GS knock them back with wave, bring out another berserker and burn them down the rest of the way.
In WvW it works a bit differn’t and I’m still working on what sequence I like best but really will depend who you are fighting and if you are in a group or alone.
Anyway this is a great all around build I enjoy a great deal and is ideal for those who are having troubles with staying in melee range with a more glass canon type mesmer build. It also works very well for AOE farming
Again any suggestions I’d love to hear them.

Two problems with the build.

First, you have no damage support. You don’t have the phantasm traits to let your illusions do damage, you have MW +20%, but not enough in Illusion to bring the CD down for any viable shatter build, and you don’t have any +% damage to any skills other than MW.

Second, you have some clone on death traits, and some shatter traits with nothing to back them up. These two types of traits generally don’t work well together (on death don’t proc when you shatter) so it’s generally not a good idea to take more than 1 of both.

I’d suggest you decide whether you want to shatter or not for damage, and then we can help you better.

Gaiawolf.8261:

Two problems with the build.

First, you have no damage support. You don’t have the phantasm traits to let your illusions do damage, you have MW +20%, but not enough in Illusion to bring the CD down for any viable shatter build, and you don’t have any +% damage to any skills other than MW.

Second, you have some clone on death traits, and some shatter traits with nothing to back them up. These two types of traits generally don’t work well together (on death don’t proc when you shatter) so it’s generally not a good idea to take more than 1 of both.

I’d suggest you decide whether you want to shatter or not for damage, and then we can help you better.

the build is supposed to be a hybrid build not just relying on one tactic as in WvW you can’t always rely on shatters. Also found phantasms not that reliable overall in WvW and with high power/crit build they still do a lot of damage..

I’m a big fan of how versatile mesmers are, and it’s the main reason I chose one over a thief. But the key to a good hybrid is finding synergies between your chosen tactics. Your traits work against each other, and cannot be used with each other at all. If you shatter, you don’t get the on death effects; if you don’t shatter, you don’t get the shatter effects. You need to find traits that can work together while applying either tactic.

You say you don’t want to rely on phantasms, but still want them to do some damage for you while playing keep away, so I suggest you try to modify your build into a hybrid shatter/ranged DPS kiting build. Drop all but maybe one on death trait. If you really want one, I’d keep Crippling Dissipation b/c it will help you kite. Playing at range means you will probably spend most of your time with GS, so drop the points in Chaos and put them in Illusions for Elasticity (it will help both staff and GS much more than your token D in Chaos). You can always make up the defense with 1 or 2 gear slots without losing much power/crit. I’d probably pick up the GS trait too.

Playing a ranged shatter build can be tricky since your illusions have to run far, but it can be done. Especially since both GS illusions spawn near the target. Staff is great utility, so it works as a secondary weapon when enemies get in close or for support even w/o traits, but now you also have an extra bounce and a bit of extra confusion to boost your warlock and cover your DoTs.

Synergies.

I still wouldn’t call it optimal, but hey, hybrids rarely are. Their strength is in their ability to adapt to changing situations, go from one battle to another quickly, and most importantly change up the play to your advantage when someone is outplaying you. And I’m not one to put a certain playstyle down. You may find some hidden key that makes your playstyle work. It just looked a little out of sync to me, and that’s why I posted my advice.

There is some good discussion and build ideas on this thread about using GS/Staff if you haven’t seen it:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/rampagers-gear-build

The build I posted is basically a shatter build with some nice condition damage applied via clones. Gaiawolf mentioned Illusionary Elasticity. That trait is paramount when using GS/Staff IMO. Playing a shatter build with ranged weapons is a lot of fun but you have to think a bit more about your shatters so you can run in with your clones to proc IP. That presents advantages tho too, once you’re in melee range you can GS#2 for 6 stacks of might, Chaos Storm (stand in it for a couple seconds to get the boons), then phase retreat.

One other thing I like to do is shatter F2 while ranged, run in w/clones and after they shatter, dodge, pop mirror images and F1 shatter. This gives them 9 stacks of confusion which gives a respectable damage spike.

i updated the build to 20 20 10 0 10.. also trying to decide what trait will be most useful in the chaos line or if i should just drop the chaos line and add those points some where else