Guild Wars 2

So, I can’t say I’m an expert at all, but this is a build that has done great for me. If I was in a 1v1, I’d choose another build, but as for team settings it is great and I still manage to win 90~95% of my 1v1s.

Just here looking for opinions and also maybe advice on making it better.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNAraWnsISZaWrGOqB1aIR1YM1Ln8poIVAlujP2G-TZRFwAAOBAJOCARLDo4RAka/BA

weps:

Scepter-Pistol: The pistol is crucial for stacking bleed. You want at least one duelist out stacking bleed on the enemy. Also, magic bullet is a great stun to have. I used to use Sword-Pistol, but the Scepter allows for smarter game play with it’s number 2. Well timed blocks are great, especially with the torment they lay on the foe.

Staff: The staff is a very great defensive weapon choice and allows extra movement with Phase Retreat. This is crucial for fighting those with lots of stuns. Clearly, you also have a 1 skill that will burn, bleed and add vulnerability to foes. Phantasmal Warlock is the skill to have for condi mesmers. It does more damage for more conditions, and with Wind of Chaos, that’s going to happen a lot. In team fights, you try not to be targeted, but sometimes you can’t avoid it. Chaos Armor is great for punishing the enemy when they attack you. This is not a skill to use unwisely. It could very easily change the course of a fight. Luckily, Chaos Storm + Phase Retreat also gives you a free Chaos Armor for more defense. Chaos Storm is a great defensive skill as well. If you’re fighting on a point and have a lot of dense fighting (lots of ppl within it, or even just a 1v1 against a melee who is bound to be in it with you) it is a great time to use it.

heal, utilities & elite:

Heal: Signet of the Ether is great for this build. Not only does it help you passively for having clones out, but the active really lets you gameplan for opponents. If I’m going into a 1v1 with a light class, I might pop a duelist, use the heal (even if I have close to full health) and instantly pop another duelist. That’s two duelists stacking lots of bleed quickly.

Utilities: Blink is a must. Great for mobility and helps if you get stunned. When you’re playing with a team, you carry a portal. It could easily change the outcome by quickly reporting back to a point when help is needed, or to stop someone from backcapping home while you handle stuff at mid. Decoy is also very useful. Many use decoy defensively. I prefer it strategically. If you could fool the opponent into hitting your clones, even better (as will be gone over in a later section).

Elite: I’ve done a lot of experimenting here. I used to use Mass Invis, and though great (needed in other builds), it doesn’t contribute as much as I would hope during team fights. At some point I used the Moa, and Moas are a ton of fun to use and could quickly end a fight (useful to stop guards and necros from using their skills to heal). That being said, Time Warp is tops. When you’re in a large team fight, or in a bit of a mess, but know you need to change an outcome quickly, it is there and it affects your team greatly. Twice the speed = Twice the DPS. That quickly turns fights around. A cool added bonus is that if an enemy goes down in the Time Warp, you also finish them twice as fast (much to the joy of teammates).

Traits:

Traits: 2/6/2/4/0.

Domination: you take take Empowered Illusions to give yourself some more umph. Yes, you’re a condi build, but it helps to reinforce it with some actual damage.

Dueling: you take Phantasmal Fury, Duelist’s Discipline and Deceptive Evasion. I think it makes perfect sense why one would take each of these. You want more critical hits because of Sharper Images (Illusions inflict bleeding on crit hits) so you take Phantasmal Fury. Deceptive Evasion is a great tool for strategy. Especially with what we grab out of chaos.

Chaos: you take Debilitating Dissipation. Your goal is to be very tricky with your movements (Phantasmal Retreat, Blink, Decoy) such that they kill your clones. Every clone they kill puts a condition on them. This is great for making them pay for their own actions.

Inspiration: you take Persisting Images and Malicious Sorcery. Tanky phantasms and more condition damage + reduced cool downs for scepter skills helps lots. You’ll notice that a lot of the smaller auto skills added, like Vengeful Images, Phantasmal healing, Metaphysical Rejuvenation, etc. Really help you out in this build. Originally, I had 4 in Illusions instead, but found that I needed more tankiness and having 4 in Inspiration really delivered on that mark.

Rune/Amulet & Sigils:

Rune/Amulet: You take the Rabid amulet because it is the perfect amulet for this. Boosts precision, toughness and condition damage. You’re going to want this amulet. You also take the Rune of the Krait. This rune is awesome for what we’re doing. Adds condi damage, bleed duration, and when you need to use your elite skill (time warp), it’ll inflict bleed, torment and poison on them. That’s an all around win.

Sigils: I have a sigil of energy on both sets. Being able to dodge is critical in clone creation. Other than that, I chose Sigil of Geomancy for the staff and Sigil of Earth for the Pistol. I’m still up in the air about what are the best Sigils for this build. Definitely not set on those sigils, especially the Sigil of Geomancy, but it is what I’ve been using for now.

Gameplay:

This build allows for a lot of strategy. It works pretty well even for those who just plan on running around while their duelists stack bleeds on the foe. It really comes to life when you take advantage of the traits and trying to misdirect your foe. Unless I’m facing a hambo (any warrior, really), I walk into fights with my scepter/pistol in hand. It is paramount that you either get a duelist out quick, or prepare to block for some quick torment on the foe. From there, you could continue with the scepter unless you feel the need to be more defensive. Usually, midway through a fight I am using the staff to make sure my warlock is out and that I have more mobility. Especially against rangers/warriors that stun like crazy. Phase retreat is great against them. Many mesmer builds that incorporate phantasms have you kite around. Though you don’t have a melee weapon, one of your best close-distance weapons is the dodge, blink and decoy. By placing clones very close to the opponent and confusing them with decoy and blink, you quickly take hold of the fight. This works extremely well against those using melee (especially those who get frustrated and start killing all your clones looking for you). The beauty of debilitating dissipation really shines here. Very often I find myself dodging around the enemy only to find them downed already because my phantasms and clones did all the work. That being said, by keeping track of the enemies health and knowing how close your clones are, that also helps set up shattering them with Mind Wrack to ensure they go down before healing. Just because this is a condi build, doesn’t mean you can’t shatter ‘em (I don’t know if Debilitating Dissipation counts shatters as kills and sends a condi to the foe. Even better if it does). Deception is key in this build and you want to use it to your advantage. As much success as I’ve had with this build in team PVP and in 1v1s, I found it does very good in 1v2s as well. Compared to other builds, I find myself alive much longer and usually am able to kill one of them before help arrives. Knowing when to block with scepter skill 2 helps a lot especially with warriors, guardians, thieves, rangers, and other mesmers.

Overall, I’m pretty happy with this build and was wondering what others thought, and if there are any adjustments seen that could make it better.

if this is the build/style you want to play.. your trait line where you take the scepter trait for 200 condi would be better spent in the last trait line i think.

it would still give you 200 condi but it would reduce the cooldown on every clone summoning skill.. which includes scepter block. It would also give you the chance to pick up illusionary elasticity or phantasmal haste.

the trait where you take illusions do more damage seems odd too.. i dont think it applies to condis in any way and this is not a hybrid build. you would be better off taking cripple on death for another cover condi or just move those 2 points somewhere else.

if you do 5 in chaos for toughness=condi .. and 3 in illusions for reduction to clone summoning skills. i think it would improve the build without changing the concept.
but i dont want to hijack it.. i play condi with a similar build to the one i said{couple changes}

i would change the elite and the heal also.. but thats just me also.