Guild Wars 2

Normally I like leveling just through PvE content solo and the occasional group of friends. Which weapon set in your opinions would be most effective for this kind of gameplay or does it really not matter on this profession? I’m coming from a shortbow/longbow ranger so I obviously prefer ranged stuff, but I’ve got no problem with melee if it’s viable.

The sword/focus set is really good. The auto attack is reasonable and strips a boon, the 2 ability is nice aoe dps and makes you invulnerable for the duration, the 3 is a leap ability that triggers combo fields and imobilises, the focus 4 is for swiftness and pulling mobs to a location and the 5 ability is a phantasm that deals great aoe dps and can reflect, but is static.

This can be paired nicely with greatsword and staff for offense/more defense.

imho sword/pistol are way better for pve leveling.
Also GS

Yeah pistol is nice- I wouldnt say way better, or even better as such, but leads to different gameplay. I just got used to having the swiftness and more aoe from focus

Well I’ll definitely have a sword and then try out both focus and pistol with it to see which I like more. I had planned on carrying a gs as a weapon too just because I see a lot of mesmers with them so I figured it was at least decent and I know it had some range

alexparris.3754:

Yeah pistol is nice- I wouldnt say way better, or even better as such, but leads to different gameplay. I just got used to having the swiftness and more aoe from focus

I like focus a lot….at level 80.
At low levels i found pistol better
(i still use pistol in some situations).

No weapon combo can match sword/focus in pve, especially while leveling. Focus is the only access we have to reliable run speed below level 60, plus nothing does more damage than a warden/BF/MW combo. Round up kite all the trash mobs around and set it up = end of battle.

For vets, champs, and bosses, just repeat the cycle while switching to GS (or staff if you need D) for interim DPS. Once you start doing dungeons, you can mix it up a bit and get into more specific builds.

GS is our ranged DPS weapon, Staff is the ultimate in defense, Scepter is just meh. Those are our ranged main hand options. Offhand we have range with everything, but if you used the signet to move faster with your ranger, then you would probably want the focus. It is awesome in its own right, but it is also our only consistent source of speed boost aside from runes, sigils and consumables. Pistol is pretty awesome. Torch is mainly used by those doing WvW or PvP, but it still has its uses. Sword offhand has one of the hardest hitting phantasms and a block that does tons of damage. Sword mainhand is our only true melee option, as such it does the best damage, its auto contains a boon strip at the end of the chain really good against some bosses in dungeons and pve, the iLeap can be a bit buggy at times because of the short range and pathing issues, but it is Sword #2 that makes it shine. A 2-second immunity with good damage every 8 seconds or 6.4 seconds if traited for.

Gaiawolf.8261:

No weapon combo can match sword/focus in pve, especially while leveling. Focus is the only access we have to reliable run speed below level 60, plus nothing does more damage than a warden/BF/MW combo. Round up kite all the trash mobs around and set it up = end of battle.

For vets, champs, and bosses, just repeat the cycle while switching to GS (or staff if you need D) for interim DPS. Once you start doing dungeons, you can mix it up a bit and get into more specific builds.

Warden? I know what the rest of the attacks in that combo are though

@Rafiee:
Phantasmal Warden is the focus phantasm on skill #5. It whirls axes around doing more damage than any other phant in an AOE. Some don’t like it because it doesn’t move, but neither do mobs. Just draw mobs into it and watch them die.

When you get better at using the focus, you can pull mobs (and players) into the warden with Temporal Curtain->Void combo. Warden also absorbs (reflects when traited) all projectiles, making for great defense against ranged, too.

I’m rather fond of sword/ sword and staff.

Sword provides you a block, a phantasm that leaps in for an attack and leaps out after the attack and thus creates a leap finisher, stips boons and applies vulnerability, has a short range teleport that creates on clone on the first cast which then cripples your target and on the second cast switches you with the clone and roots your target as well as counting as a leap finisher. Finally it has a multi hit attack that makes you immune to everything for the duration.

Staff is your all around defensive/supportive ranged weapon while still being capable of a decent amount of damage. It also provides a combo field with chaos storm for your sword leap finishers.

GS main, sword/torch here…I highly recommend this combo. It’s great at causing chaos at ranged and then once they try to get too close switch it up and use the prestige, iLeap, and blurred frenzy and mind wrack or cry of frustration shatter to remind them of how dangerous you are at close range. If you gear yourself right (invest in a bit of toughness) enemies won’t have a save zone to engage you at. ;-)

Will I not be doing much damage until later levels? It seems like it takes me a while to kill things. I don’t really take much damage but the time to kill is longer than expected

what stat build are you using to level with?

I’ve only just started so I haven’t gotten my traits yet which may be the source. I’m mainly going power right now. I was running sword pistol, but I think I’m going to use focus. I hadn’t realized I could pull things with that wall haha

A mesmer in general kills not so fast as a thief or warrior. But you can kill really fast if you time your skills right. Besides our shatters, the phantasms are our biggest damage dealers. Besides the phantasm, each weapon combo has 1 other skill that does some decent damage.

I like using staff in wvw and pve. In pve it lets me solo many mobs at the same time. Sure you don’t kill them fast, but the utility on staff makes it incredibly fun, and you’ll notice that once you get used to the staff, you’ll kill faster.

Sword/focus is always solid as well.

A combo that kills fast for me is leap to target(sword 3×2) > mind wrack > blurred frenzy(sword 2)
If you don’t have 3 illusions active yet, use an utility to get there, like using mirror images. In PvE you can easily add phantasm warden to start with this combo before using the leap for even more damage.