Guild Wars 2

Well i’ve broken down completely this past weekend and i’m just back to running the 4/4/0/0/6 shatter build, zerker amulet and various runes but travelers keeps me from needing a focus or teammates to get around more quickly.

Its really the only spec that can really destroy stuff in sPvP that I can abuse fluidly that doesn’t come up short in short fights or longer sustained fights against multiple rotating foes.

But here’s the thing. I’ve got GS nailed down but i’m still up in the air over Staff or Sword Sword. Pistol is off the table, its stun is lovely but the phantasm dies too often and it lacks a big bust skill and a block.

So here’s what i’m trying to weigh for weapons.

Is it better to take Sword/Sword or Staff?

Swords Offers Boon removing Clones (when they can hit enough times) and Immobilize along with a Hard hitting Phant that is survivable. it also offers me a guaranteed block and a questionably reliable evade.

Staff offers a Slow truck Phant that easily misses, a half stun breaker, and RNG boons.

So why take staff? is what i ask myself these days.

The other part i struggle with is Portal. Portal is lovely if you have a reliable team thats smart enough to use it effectively, but often that’s not the case for me. So i’ve lately been taking Feedback instead. I’ve accepted that i’ll end up lacking Condition Removals but ultimately that hasn’t been that much of a problem for me aside from the odd condition bombing necro that shows up from time to time.

Is there a reason to really ever bring portal to a fight without having a stable team to play with every time every day?

I almost want to bring Illusion of Life at times but it really pales in comparison to all other class revival skills and in rough match ups 15s is usually not enough to down and kill someone from the other team..

Any recommendations from you all that aren’t Null-field or a mantra?

Staff because:

• It offers you amazing survivability
• It gives you really good mobility across the map
• The damage output is still quite good with IE fixed on clones
• Chaos storm is absolutely beast mode for survival aswell as to cause ’’chaos’’.

I just don’t like sword too much in spvp due that you don’t have the mobility as you would have with staff, it’s damage is quite low and it forces you to be close to your enemy.

I take staff with GS no contest because of (in this order) 1) phase retreat 2) chaos storm and 3) chaos armor uptime.

Phase retreat is so important for about face blinking across maps, and to ledges, etc for escapes (a bit of time needs to be spent though to learn all the spots).

Portal isn’t totally useless in soloq but it’s borderline. Most mesmers I know of take portal only in coordinated situations. Otherwise it becomes mostly a wasted utility on your bar if you’re the only one taking advantage of it.

I find it terribly amusing that Blackhat.4016 is posting in here when he was basically a huge voice in getting Mesmer sword gutted. The sorry excuses for players in this game have zero shame.

Using greatsword & scepter/pistol combo. Find it great for one on one encounter as the clones & confusion keeps the enemy well away most of the time. Swap to staff when the occasion dictates.

Blackhat.4016:

shimmerlessEU.6841:

I find it terribly amusing that Blackhat.4016 is posting in here when he was basically a huge voice in getting Mesmer sword gutted. The sorry excuses for players in this game have zero shame.

I play every single profession in the game so I don’t mind if skills gets nerfed/buffed. If something doesn’t feel properly balanced to me I post it on the forums and ask for other opinions (although I’ve been away for quite some time). I also posted about stealth before Anet introduced anti-stealth skills and other skills/game mechanics like a lot of players did. That doesn’t mean Anet listens to me at all. It was the most logical thing to do imo, even if it means some players disagree.

As you can see I still play the profession and use the weapon. In fact, it’s my most used profession since I started playing again.

Congrats, so you (loudly and repeatedly) offered your opinions on a game you don’t really play anyway. You can pass me the shovel if you’d like to stop digging yourself deeper muffin.