Guild Wars 2

Chaos Archangel.5071:

@Skcamow: Wow that looks interesting, but if bunker why Phantasmal Strength over iPersona?

Chaos Archangel.5071:

@skcamow: Keep us updated on the progress, I’d try the build out but with the Mantra build I’m working on when the patch comes out, school coming up, and me jotting down a list of builds I wanna try, idk when I’d get around to it.

At your suggestion, I tested the build in a couple matches using IP (0/0/20/20/30) and I have to say it might be a build changer. I definitely underestimated it. The access to a quick recharging diversion/distortion is absolutely invaluable in this build, especially when there are no clones to spend. It seems I can hold 3 off longer now than I used to. Will be playing more to see if it holds up.

Lockdown builds must be added in the the Fay’s Topic. It’s a nice playstyle.

@skcamow: Ross Biddle suggested Runes of the Flock for the blind build. May wanna give that a shot too.

@Profano: Good call, I mentioned it to Fay.

… And somehow I totally forgot to include Kylia’s Triforce and Lockdown build. x_x

Has anyone messed around with Furious Interruption?

I’ve been testing it last night, trying to find the right trait to go into the last dueling slot for Mind Crush. I was set on Phantasmal Fury at first but I noticed this was a rare opportunity to really see what Furious Interrupt (FI) could do.

So far, it’s been surprisingly good. Since my lockdown build is melee-oriented and has 4 reliable dazes and it’s getting easier and easier to plan/time interrupt opportunities, I can predict when FI will proc. When it does? I either charge my mantra, land a full sword auto (3-4k damage), or rezz someone quicker.

At first I couldn’t really see much use for a 3 second quickness, especially with the 15s cooldown (cooldown’s not too bad actually since my dazes range from 10-40 sec CD) but now I see a bit of potential with Mantras, Phantasm summons, Scepter, Sword (both mainhand AND offhand), and Greatsword. Staff doesn’t seem affected much.

I know Warlord had used it before and liked it, does anyone run this trait constantly?

Keep in mind that Anet is changing Perplexity runes.

Xavi.6591:

Keep in mind that Anet is changing Perplexity runes.

I’d like to see your source behind that statement. Many has made that statement but none have provided solid proof.

Lahel.6381:

Xavi.6591:

Keep in mind that Anet is changing Perplexity runes.

I’d like to see your source behind that statement. Many has made that statement but none have provided solid proof.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/wuv/wuv/Perplexity-runes/page/2#post2994201

Thank you

/15 char

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Has anyone messed around with Furious Interruption?

I’ve been testing it last night, trying to find the right trait to go into the last dueling slot for Mind Crush. I was set on Phantasmal Fury at first but I noticed this was a rare opportunity to really see what Furious Interrupt (FI) could do.

So far, it’s been surprisingly good. Since my lockdown build is melee-oriented and has 4 reliable dazes and it’s getting easier and easier to plan/time interrupt opportunities, I can predict when FI will proc. When it does? I either charge my mantra, land a full sword auto (3-4k damage), or rezz someone quicker.

At first I couldn’t really see much use for a 3 second quickness, especially with the 15s cooldown (cooldown’s not too bad actually since my dazes range from 10-40 sec CD) but now I see a bit of potential with Mantras, Phantasm summons, Scepter, Sword (both mainhand AND offhand), and Greatsword. Staff doesn’t seem affected much.

I know Warlord had used it before and liked it, does anyone run this trait constantly?

I have been trying out furious interruption in my own 10/30/30 build with staff + sc/focus, and I’ve had surprisingly good results, so far it has helped me recharge mantra, “insta” heal, stomp faster, get off a clutch Mass Invis you name it. I am positively impressed by it, even with a 15 sec ICD.

I use it more or less constantly and its a good trait. Principally used for charging mantras or for scepter auto fast spawning clones.

Yeah, I think it’s actually highly underrated.

In theory it looks so bad but in practice it’s actually pretty effective, especially with DazeMantra. I never really considered the things Mesmer could do with Quickness but like Lahel said having an semi on-demand 3 seconds of quickness is actually rather useful. I think I’ve been most impressed with how effective the sword’s Autoattack can be with it.

UPDATED: 10/23/13 Any builds I missed?

Also.. I wanted to say that it’s really great to see that we have a nice amount of lockdown players here. It’s a style that, until recently, had received very little attention and theorycrafting. This list is a huge step towards Mesmer build diversity, and now Lockdown even has it’s own category on the stickied build list.

I wish I could get Furious Interruption to work, it sounds so much fun :/

Whenenver I interupt, I seem to be 600 units away from my target most of the time (80%) :P. Maybe with the greatsword instead of staff it would work better for me… But I like the staff so much :o.

Maybe I’m going to test sw/sw, sc/pi with 30/30/10 or 10/30/30 :D

I think scepter has better damage at <600 range than greatsword, and the magic bullet is on a lower cooldown than wave. Then I can also swap halting strike with empowered illusions, so many possibilities :O

I still think shatter Works better for me, but lockdown is just so much fun for some reason :o.

Was testing Chaotic Interruption a bit more yesterday in a 20/20/30/0/0 build (Dom I, VII / Dueling IV, X / Chaos V, VIII, XI) and oh man… I think it’s probably our best interrupt trait of the bunch, even moreso than Bountiful Interruption.

Now that Immobilize stacks, one interrupt + iLeap can be an easy 5 second immobilize, making for easy shatters and excellent lockdown in group fights. Has anyone been playing with it extensively? It really kind of rocks, Furious Interruption impressed me but Chaotic really seems several steps above. If I wasn’t so enamored with 30/30/10/0/0 for Confounding Suggestions and didn’t need Deceptive Evasion so much, I’d have definitely stuck with that build, but the playstyle change is too radical (swapping your Grandmaster usually is, though) and would require me spending some time practicing with the new build to commit the switch to muscle memory.

Hi ,iv been playing with this build, III-II-I u r dead i call it,and is fun not very good (or beter to say not good at all ) against conditions but heh,cant beat them all
So build is
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAscRlwzyoHVTmGbNJypCUHqCYHpHqmp1alUwbXIA-ToAg0E1oqxVjpGZN2aGUsoYSA

Play stile is -up yopur phatasmas and keep distance u have compounding celerity for speed buff,w8 for heal interupt then engage with leap-freanzy and wrack.
Most clothies are dead before wrack .

Couldnt beat signet wr with soldiers since they dont use heal so not much to interupt and couldnt beat sb-s/d ranger which use only auto attack.

I have a feeling that in hands of a good player this could be really effective.
p.s its prety selfish build not much in team play

Yeah, CI is amazing. The best part is that they’re all control conditions, not damage – so you don’t need any condition damage to take advantage. Jumping onto a point and using Illusionary Wave to knock everyone away AND immobilize them off-point is amazing.

It also works well with so many of our weapons – staff, focus, GS, pistol, and offhand sword all have their own interrupts on them. The hard part is deciding which ones to use…

A full BI+CI interrupt build with Hoelbrak runes and Battle sigils can do a serious amount of damage along with control, I just need to play more so I can actually get good with it.

I’ve also been thinking about a 30/10/30 build with GS+Sw/Sw — trait both weapons, MoM+BI+CI, Confounding Suggestions. Probably Daze Mantra, Thievery, Blink for utils. Still not decided about the Dom adept trait, I could make a case for Empowered, Halting, or even Debilitating Dissipation to enhance the control aspect. Will have to play and see, as usual. Only problem is with no stealth and no DE it’ll be very vulnerable to getting focused.

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Was testing Chaotic Interruption a bit more yesterday in a 20/20/30/0/0 build (Dom I, VII / Dueling IV, X / Chaos V, VIII, XI) and oh man… I think it’s probably our best interrupt trait of the bunch, even moreso than Bountiful Interruption.

Now that Immobilize stacks, one interrupt + iLeap can be an easy 5 second immobilize, making for easy shatters and excellent lockdown in group fights. Has anyone been playing with it extensively? It really kind of rocks, Furious Interruption impressed me but Chaotic really seems several steps above. If I wasn’t so enamored with 30/30/10/0/0 for Confounding Suggestions and didn’t need Deceptive Evasion so much, I’d have definitely stuck with that build, but the playstyle change is too radical (swapping your Grandmaster usually is, though) and would require me spending some time practicing with the new build to commit the switch to muscle memory.

CI has been my fav, pretty much since since chillruption. I have extensively played with various methods of maximizing it’s use, after which I’ve come to believe it’s one of the most overlooked mesmer traits. The immobilize alone, with no internal CD is worth the 30 IMO. I played with and mastered the same chain immobilize you mentioned. It has always stacked – I describe it in more detail in this thread:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Which-GM-interruption-trait/first#post2867641

That scenario is best fitted for power builds given the sword requirement, but you can pull the same thing off with multiple dazes in a row as well with other builds.

Also – I think that making CI AoE with imbued diversion is one of the best lockdown methods we possess.

+1, love this

Chaos, I really loved your builds and inspired me to build my own lockdown builds. But since PU builds are really something nowadays, i was wondering if you can meld a PU build into an interrupt/lockdown build?

Theoretically, interrupts and PU in one build would be great. However, there are two main issues in practice. They won’t make combining those two impossible. But they will limit their respective effectivness or at least your options.

First, interrupt skills directly compete with stealth skills. This applies to weapons (Prestige vs. Counter Blade or Magic Bullet etc.) and to utilities (Mantra vs. Decoy). Second, PU competes with interrupt traits due to several circumstances. It shares a slot with Chaotic Interruption and it is a high investment pointwise, limiting your further choices. Getting Imbued Diversion will cripple you clone generation (no DE). This also is the case when reaching for additional Mantra charges.

Coming from a melee heavy PU build I actually tried combining those. I finally figured that Bountiful Interruption can easily replace PU boonwise. You then have to consider if you really need that additional second of stealth? I decided I don’t and also switched out the Torch for a Sword. I do sometimes miss Prestige but I still get enough stealth thanks to Decoy and MI.

It really depends on what kind of control/lockdown you want to do. The Blackwater build already comes with a lot of control via Confusion and Clone-deaths, but if you mean more along the lines of dazes, then things get a bit tricky.. If I was going to build incorporating PU, I’d probably go with 20/20/30/0/0 with Sword+Torch /Greatsword. (or Staff) and take Decoy, Null Field, DazeMantra. This way you have three stealths, can grab Halting Strike or Crippling Dissipation, and still trait your GS or Torch, or even grabbed the excellent Shattered Conditions. Bountiful Interruption can do you a lot of justice with the Greatsword, and Sensotix has proved that the torch can actually work a pretty nice shatter burst since the Prestige is pretty good power damage.

Also, would this be for PvP or WvW?

Oh, and btw guys, there are some REALLY good builds in that list that I think deserve more publicity. Please enter into the BoTM contest this month with a few of them so people are more inclined to try ‘em out, there’s a lot of good stuff here.

Toyed around with a more group-oriented lockdown/support build last night.

0/20/30/20/0 – Sword+Focus/Staff
Dueling: IV, X – Chaos: V, VIII, X – Inspiration: I, VIII / Lyssa Runes – Knight’s Armor
Mantra of Concentration, iDisenchanter, Signet of Inspiration

I tried to use Mantra of Concentration as my defense in place of Blink/Decoy and … it’s not so bad. Didn’t work as well as I’d hoped, and I think it’s likely a better defense when paired with Blink, but that could’ve been because of my inexperience with the skill. I’ll admit that I was getting smacked up when using this build, but I never felt like it was because my setup was weak as much as I still had the reflexes of Mind Crush while playing it.

The support is very strong here, Disenchanter definitely is underrated (thanks for the tip Pyro), Signet of Inspiration is glorious with Lyssa runes, bountiful interrupt, and long as you’re actually sticking near your allies like you’re supposed to and the on-demand AoE Stability FREAKIN’ ROCKS.

I’m thinkin this build may work out pretty well in WvW.

So a bit of an update on the new build concept: 0/20/30/20/0 – Sword+Focus/Staff (2x Hydromancy Sigils, Zerker gear)

It’s evolved to have more support, higher control, AND improved damage/defenses.

Dueling: I (or II), X / Chaos: III (or V), VIII, XI / Inspiration: I (or III), VIII
Arcane Thievery – Signet of Inspiration – Blink

Again, the traits can be altered based on personal taste.

Boon Support
I’ve kept the boon support theme because it feels very strong, stealing boons combined with Lyssa Runes and Chaos Storm provides a pretty hefty amount of boons to allies without being too clunky to pull off… and bountiful Interrupt FTW of course.

Projectile Reflection
Traited Focus and Medic’s Feedback. Also provides Light/Ethereal combo fields.

Lockdown
Via conditions (AoE chill on swap. Immobilize (and more) on Interrupt. Chaos Storm) and projectile reflects. Something to handle both Melee and ranged.

With this build, I try to break the concept that a Mesmer has to maximize damage in some way (via conditions, shatters, phantasms, ect) to be effective. The goal here is to be an effective threat on the battlefield for my ability to control the flow of the fight via boons, conditions and Temporal Curtain/Chaos Storm. Damage comes from Phantasms here, Warden and Warlock, there’s an interesting synergy with Temporal Curtain -> iWarden and Chaotic Interruption’s immobilize. With practice and timing you can nail most of the Warden’kittens with iLeap and an interrupt.

For now things are looking rather promising. It feels effective, definitely useful for the team, and so much fun. I think I’ll be reaching out to an OMFG tester for this build soon.

Hello, I was wondering about your thoughts with this condition/lockdown setup. I’m still fairly new to the game and have only run Blackwater since turning level 80 3 weeks ago, so I’m a little hesitant to invest in a new set of gear at this time… but the setup I’m thinking of running to duo with my thief friend or guild group of ~5 people in WvW is this:

Staff, Scepter/Pistol
10/30/20/10
Cripplig Dissipation
Phantasmal Fury, Deceptive Evasion, Furious Interruption
Debilitating Dissipation, Bountiful Interruption
Mender’s Purity

Utilities: Decoy, Mantra of Distraction, Signet of Inspiration

Basically I would play as if I were playing as Blackwater spec in going for condition application/damage, but the lockdown component would come into play when I could get a successful interrupt with distraction or pistol stun – then I could get my might and quickness buffs and give them to my friends with signet, then use Scepter 3 to quickly apply confusion on top of the perplexity confusion that was applied on the interrupt before switching to staff for more conditions/defensive play. I’m not sure how effective this build will be since it’s giving up the stealth and condition removal utilities, so I can’t see myself running this for solo roaming, but would this be a viable duo/small group setup? Any feedback would be appreciated… thanks!

So I think I just had the misfortune to run into one of these while dueling in PvP. It made absolute mincemeat out of my Blackwater build and also when I tried a hybrid PU/phantasm setup. He just kept stunning me and I couldn’t do anything.

I assume this is some variant of what’s being discussed here? Is it really better than a PU build or is he just a better player? I know I should have used staff #2 to break the stun but I either didn’t think of it or it was on cooldown.

Curious how this build compares to the others I’ve been looking at. I got a few more details from him and it seems like a lockdown build so I’m going to try it out.

ETA: Okay, there’s like 20 different lockdown builds in this thread. Having choices is great, but it’s making my head hurt, lol.

@ Qaelyn

1 vs 1 lockout is very good. It does not mean PU is inferior but maybe your opponent that time is really good in a sense of predicting your actions as to when to interrupt you.

How does DE feel in your interrupt build? I’ve never used it in an interrupt build.

lucky.8246:

Hello, I was wondering about your thoughts with this condition/lockdown setup. I’m still fairly new to the game and have only run Blackwater since turning level 80 3 weeks ago, so I’m a little hesitant to invest in a new set of gear at this time… but the setup I’m thinking of running to duo with my thief friend or guild group of ~5 people in WvW is this:

Staff, Scepter/Pistol
10/30/20/10
Crippling Dissipation
Phantasmal Fury, Deceptive Evasion, Furious Interruption
Debilitating Dissipation, Bountiful Interruption
Mender’s Purity

Utilities: Decoy, Mantra of Distraction, Signet of Inspiration

Basically I would play as if I were playing as Blackwater spec in going for condition application/damage, but the lockdown component would come into play when I could get a successful interrupt with distraction or pistol stun – then I could get my might and quickness buffs and give them to my friends with signet, then use Scepter 3 to quickly apply confusion on top of the perplexity confusion that was applied on the interrupt before switching to staff for more conditions/defensive play. I’m not sure how effective this build will be since it’s giving up the stealth and condition removal utilities, so I can’t see myself running this for solo roaming, but would this be a viable duo/small group setup? Any feedback would be appreciated… thanks!

Hey Lucky, that’s a nice concept and I see a few potential alternative options for this build. Those last 10 points in Dueling can go into a LOT of alternative options.

The core concept of the build is good, and it’s definitely got plenty of control-aspects to it with Scepter (Blind/Torment/Confusion) Pistol (Magic Bullet) Staff (Chaos Storm/Armor) /Clone-deaths (Cripple/Weakness/Vuln) and DazeMantra, but I see a potential flaw that may hinder you: Quickness is not a boon, and thus cannot be transferred to allies. Furious Interruption in general takes a lot of time and practice to really make effective, but 30 points in Dueling also opens you up for Mantra cooldowns or traited pistol, both which may be superior options here. But also…

• Consider 10/20/30/10/0 which would give you back Prismatic Understanding (Or Crippling Dissipation) and thus give you more boons to share with allies. Timing Mass Invis with Chaos Storm and a well-timed interrupt can reward you with massive amounts of boons while giving your opponent a headache at the same time. That may also help make it more viable for solo roaming.

• Or maybe 20/20/20/10 which looks hella wierd, but would open up Dazzling (5x Vuln on daze. Great for F3) and Shattered Concentration. Shattered Concentration is quite possibly one of the best forms of boon stripping in the entire game. Even if shattering isn’t a primary focus for you, being able to strip off Stability/Protection/Might whenever you feel like it is very empowering and extremely useful.

• Perhaps 10/20/20/20/0 to trait your Scepter. On the surface it seems frivolous but in my experience a traited Scepter can offer a noticeable damage boost. Here you can also boost your support with abilities like Vigorous Revelation (AoE Vigor on Shatter) and Medic’s Feedback (Feedback Bubble on rezz).

Let us know how it works out for you, hope ya enjoy.

StickerHappy.8052:

@ Qaelyn

1 vs 1 lockout is very good. It does not mean PU is inferior but maybe your opponent that time is really good in a sense of predicting your actions as to when to interrupt you.

How does DE feel in your interrupt build? I’ve never used it in an interrupt build.

In my experience, DE rocks. It adds a whole extra layer of lockdown. With DE it’s much easier to space out clones for a 2-3 second Distraction [F3] shatter, also combined with Debilitating/Crippling Dissipation, as seen in the Blackwater build, DE allows us a very consistent form of soft lockdown in team fights. The potential for AoE Weakness on demand, for me, is wonderful (and 3x Vuln isn’t too bad either, especially with Vuln on interrupt and vuln on daze from Domination). It’s more control over melee-oriented build and a stronger presence in team fights.

@Chaos

How come you play so good?

Current experimenting with 30/20/20/0/0, lots of interrupt/lockdown play. Running 6*Mesmer runes, just for experimentation. Will test it until the december balance patch, when I get another +25% daze duration, then check how it plays with that and decide whether to change or drop it.

So far it’s interesting. It’s less zerg-problematic in WvW than Blackwater oddly enough (just lacking the blast finisher), allows me to run the GS for free kills around cliffs and mass interrupts to trigger BI, when roaming I can run Mirror instead of BI, and in PvE I can switch to triple-mantras + interrupt-boons to share out.

Carighan.6758:

Current experimenting with 30/20/20/0/0, lots of interrupt/lockdown play. Running 6*Mesmer runes, just for experimentation. Will test it until the december balance patch, when I get another +25% daze duration, then check how it plays with that and decide whether to change or drop it.

So far it’s interesting. It’s less zerg-problematic in WvW than Blackwater oddly enough (just lacking the blast finisher), allows me to run the GS for free kills around cliffs and mass interrupts to trigger BI, when roaming I can run Mirror instead of BI, and in PvE I can switch to triple-mantras + interrupt-boons to share out.

I think you may be running the same build I am.

Dom: II, VII, XII / Dueling: II (or IV), X / Chaos: V, VIII

Sword/Sword (or Pistol) / Staff (or Greatsword) – Sigil of Flame/Paralyzation – Hydromancy (or Energy or Doom)

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Hey Lucky, that’s a nice concept and I see a few potential alternative options for this build. Those last 10 points in Dueling can go into a LOT of alternative options.

The core concept of the build is good, and it’s definitely got plenty of control-aspects to it with Scepter (Blind/Torment/Confusion) Pistol (Magic Bullet) Staff (Chaos Storm/Armor) /Clone-deaths (Cripple/Weakness/Vuln) and DazeMantra, but I see a potential flaw that may hinder you: Quickness is not a boon, and thus cannot be transferred to allies. Furious Interruption in general takes a lot of time and practice to really make effective, but 30 points in Dueling also opens you up for Mantra cooldowns or traited pistol, both which may be superior options here. But also…

• Consider 10/20/30/10/0 which would give you back Prismatic Understanding (Or Crippling Dissipation) and thus give you more boons to share with allies. Timing Mass Invis with Chaos Storm and a well-timed interrupt can reward you with massive amounts of boons while giving your opponent a headache at the same time. That may also help make it more viable for solo roaming.

• Or maybe 20/20/20/10 which looks hella wierd, but would open up Dazzling (5x Vuln on daze. Great for F3) and Shattered Concentration. Shattered Concentration is quite possibly one of the best forms of boon stripping in the entire game. Even if shattering isn’t a primary focus for you, being able to strip off Stability/Protection/Might whenever you feel like it is very empowering and extremely useful.

• Perhaps 10/20/20/20/0 to trait your Scepter. On the surface it seems frivolous but in my experience a traited Scepter can offer a noticeable damage boost. Here you can also boost your support with abilities like Vigorous Revelation (AoE Vigor on Shatter) and Medic’s Feedback (Feedback Bubble on rezz).

Let us know how it works out for you, hope ya enjoy.

Thanks, Chaos! Took your advice and started playing around a lot with the boon sharing concept and had some really interesting results, especially when I took Arcane Thievery and Signet of Inspiration as my utilities in addition to Decoy. Had a lot of satisfaction in terms of watching my party bar fill up with boons at times when I could time it with PU boons, interrupt boons, and stealing more boons with arcane thievery before sharing (I think I was able to add the stolen boons before sharing with signet, but the fights are so fast paced in this game for me still, I don’t know half the things that are going on while I’m trying to get a good rotation of skills together!)

Basically I’m experimenting with leaving out mantra of distraction for arcane thievery, and using weapon skill interrupts as my main interrupt skill, between different setups involving focus, pistol, OH sword, or GS. I’m not skilled enough yet to be able to get a solid guaranteed interrupt on a single target with mantra or OH sword, so at this stage I find using an aoe oriented interrupt (focus, GS, pistol) works better for me in terms of getting a higher chance to actually get an interrupt if I could hit 2 or more people. But since my gear is all Rabid, I may consider getting a berserker or other power-based set and get to a point where I could run a phantasm build inspired by Pyro’s phantasm build. But instead of “running in circles” with active defenses while phantasms do damage, I could focus on lockdown while the phantasms do the damage. I just need to figure out what combination of weapons will be optimal for good phantasms and on-demand interrupts without using mantra.

At the same time, I’m wondering if this sort of “optimized boon sharing lockdown build” really is an effective way to use my Mesmer, especially if there are other classes that can more easily provide boons – so is the reality that my role as a Mesmer would be better served in other areas and not so much in providing boons to friends?

I have great success using an interrupt build in pvp. do you think it will be the same WvW?

Hello all,
thanks to you for this exceptionally informative thread!

I have a question (I already posted in a different thread, but got no answer): Im in love with soloQ, b/c I dont have time for a team. Id like to be succesfull, so from my experience you need a build balanced between being able to 1v1 and to add to teamfights; plus you need to roam alot and thus be quick.

I tried shatter and died too often, tried PU condi clone spam with moderate success, but didnt put out enough damage in team fights.

Do you think an interrupt build, like mind crush, could do well in this regard? I already tried it, but realized it would take me very long to optimize my playstyle. Do you have any suggestions for a build for the sole purpose of soloQ? Perhaps a modified interrup build?

Kind of a noobie question, but what is the point of Confounding Suggestions? I know it will be changed with the patch but currently it just has 50% to do a stun instead of daze and aren’t they in practice the same?

Other than that, I really like the idea of the build, I’ve played it in spvp (though I’m more of a WvW player). However I still can’t decide whether I’d prefer shatter or this kind of build. Like someone else posted earlier, I feel that shatter build is more suitable for pvp matches.

paleeshi.1924:

Kind of a noobie question, but what is the point of Confounding Suggestions? I know it will be changed with the patch but currently it just has 50% to do a stun instead of daze and aren’t they in practice the same?

Other than that, I really like the idea of the build, I’ve played it in spvp (though I’m more of a WvW player). However I still can’t decide whether I’d prefer shatter or this kind of build. Like someone else posted earlier, I feel that shatter build is more suitable for pvp matches.

A dazed foe cant use skills with cast times.

A stunned for cant use skills with cast times, or move.

And I feel the same way too :/. Shatter has more burst and stuff v.v

@paleeshi

I bet i can lockdown the shatter build.

ADDED StickerHappy’s Bicurious Milf (Hybrid Scepter/Torch – Sword / Pistol Chill build)

@paleeshi: A stun is more valuable than a daze because it stops the opponent from moving. A dazed target can still run or dodge.

The question of Lockdown vs Shatter is a bit difficult to answer, but I’m going to work on a more detailed article to explain the differences and similarities.

Just wanted to say that I’ve been seeing more and more lockdown Mesmer recently in PvP and it’s pretty awesome! I changed the title as “Underexplored” feels a bit inappropriate now that we have tons of different lockdown builds and playstyles being published.

Wanted to check real quick if theres any new lockdown builds I’ve missed in the list and was curious about peoples’ experiences with their builds after the Dec 10th patch.

So I’ve recently been playing with a build that’s essentially a fusion of Mind Crush and Phantasmic Interruptions…

20/20/30/0/0
Dom: V, VII Duel: IV, X Chaos: V, VIII, XI
Sword-Sword (or Focus) – Staff
Runes of Grenth, Sigil of Hydromancy (staff) / Energy (sword) / Bloodlust (offhand)
Blink – iDisenchanter – Mantra of Distraction

Taking the lessons I learned from Mind Crush (Vuln stacking, staff shenanigans, and chain dazes) and combining with the Dueling/Chaos trait-spread of Phantasmic Interruptions has made for whats possibly the best lockdown build I’ve played so far. Lots of AoE CC, a mix of both soft and hard lockdown and surprisingly good damage. I mourn for the loss of Halting Strike but I love the team utility of Crippling Dissipation. I still have more practice to do with the build (when I’m not playing a modified version of Arganthium’s LSD) but I’m really enjoying it. Again shoutouts to skcamow and StickerHappy for producing that awesome build.

So disappointed Met a lockdown mesmer for the first time just now, was really interested in seeing how the fight was going to go.. they got off to a good start with Moa but I am still OK and ready to start fighting back, and just as we were getting to the good bit their guildmate thief had to jump in T.T

Was so looking forward to that fight

I honestly want to see more lockdown Mesmers. It is hugely underplayed right now but man it is really powerful to use (coming from a gw1 Mesmer who loved the lockdown specs to death). I have so far fought 0 lockdown mesmers in wvw and very few in spvp (pretty much only omfg members). I kinda want to see lockdown beat this meta we are in and have a strong seat in everywhere but zerging (too much stability there). It needs a couple of small buffs and it should be great (like removing the cripple on CI please <3)

Chaos Archangel.5071:

So I’ve recently been playing with a build that’s essentially a fusion of Mind Crush and Phantasmic Interruptions…

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20/20/30/0/0
Dom: V, VII Duel: IV, X Chaos: V, VIII, XI
Sword-Sword (or Focus) – Staff
Runes of Grenth, Sigil of Hydromancy (staff) / Energy (sword) / Bloodlust (offhand)
Blink – iDisenchanter – Mantra of Distraction

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Taking the lessons I learned from Mind Crush (Vuln stacking, staff shenanigans, and chain dazes) and combining with the Dueling/Chaos trait-spread of Phantasmic Interruptions has made for whats possibly the best lockdown build I’ve played so far. Lots of AoE CC, a mix of both soft and hard lockdown and surprisingly good damage. I mourn for the loss of Halting Strike but I love the team utility of Crippling Dissipation. I still have more practice to do with the build (when I’m not playing a modified version of Arganthium’s LSD) but I’m really enjoying it. Again shoutouts to skcamow and StickerHappy for producing that awesome build.

Some interesting changes.

I’ve been running with MindCrush consistently the last few months and love it.

However, I more and more find that I don’t need DE and have recently dropped it although I’m still debating where to stick the additional 10pts. Running with both Confounding Suggestions and Chaotic Interruption seems a bit excessive though… what are your thoughts?

To anyone who hasn’t tried a lockdown build yet, I’d highly encourage you to try it. It has a steep learning curve in some ways, but you can get to grips with it quite quickly. Interrupting is not that difficult, learning to interrupt those skills of your opponent that are important, that’s where the difficulty lies.

@Marsares. I, like yourself, learnet to play without DE and I bless it. It gives room for more tweaking and experimenting and that’s how I came up with 30/10/30/0/0. I have been advertising it in all lockdown 3Ds Chaos opened recently, I apologise for that but couldn’t prevent myself in spreading this great build
Just kidding ofc but I really like it and it does wonders for me

trooper.2650:

@Marsares. I, like yourself, learnet to play without DE and I bless it. It gives room for more tweaking and experimenting and that’s how I came up with 30/10/30/0/0. I have been advertising it in all lockdown 3Ds Chaos opened recently, I apologise for that but couldn’t prevent myself in spreading this great build
Just kidding ofc but I really like it and it does wonders for me

Which traits do you run with 30/10/30?

Marsares.2053:

trooper.2650:

@Marsares. I, like yourself, learnet to play without DE and I bless it. It gives room for more tweaking and experimenting and that’s how I came up with 30/10/30/0/0. I have been advertising it in all lockdown 3Ds Chaos opened recently, I apologise for that but couldn’t prevent myself in spreading this great build
Just kidding ofc but I really like it and it does wonders for me

Which traits do you run with 30/10/30?

This
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQJARWl4zCpnRTmGb9IhpHE33Cn0DTz6VXqAuB-jEDBYfAYLQkIBK5pIaslhFRjVxAT5KIaXQaYp2aWo2cOReDYSBsouK-w

I’ve actually never been able to vibe with a 30/10/30/0/0 build. The times I’ve gone without DE in a shatter-oriented spec I’ve only been able to make it work because of having IP. Without it, I’d only go 30/10/30/0/0 if using a more Phantasm-oriented spec. However, Trooper’s build looks intriguing. That’s a very interesting take on a Mantra-lockdown build.

Also, I never noticed till recently that Chaotic Interruption works verryyy well with the staff, not only is trapping people inside of Chaos Storm pretty awesome, but the extra conditions it applies helps to boost iWarlock’s damage even further and the immobilize makes it more reliable.

Absolutely Chaos. Proccing CI, dropping chaos storm on top of it (4 conditions guaranteed) and casting iWarlock (+10% damage x unique condition) you easily get 4k damage.

Aside from that I know what it means running not this buils, but any builds without DE. In fact, the only way for me to make it viable is to have some form of constant speed.
In pvp I use rune of speed and travelers in wvw. It’s the only way not to make builds without DE feel sluggish like hell or slow like a drag.

But I guess the build can still work as a 20/20/30 (as yourself already pointed out somewhere) without so much focus on mantras. I started using disenchanter after reading your feedback and I like it a lot. The only down side is that it requires a target in range and if you have to run away covered by conditions disenchanter will not guarantee you will come out alive.

Just want to say thanks to Chaos et al for introducing me to lockdown in gw2. In particular Allysah’s dueling video was awesome. I should say here I’m focused on roaming and solo Q.

I wanted to mention two things: First is I think CS as is pretty dumb as it is currently, as the stun overwrites the daze. I guess this is cool in group fight where preventing dodge is really important (?), but otherwise I would greatly prefer to just have a guaranteed daze on longer duration, as I think the lockout time is much more valuable. So they dodge, so what? You just forced a dodge on your terms and you have all your damaging abilities ready, a pretty good thing to do in a fight.

In my experience, only really good players react that fact that they just got dazed by insta dodging. The vast majority stand there for a sec looking, well, dazed. Especially true in the heat of battle with a lot going on. You start dazing someone and you are 90% of the time going to smash em with a follow up dmging attack. I think a 1.5 or 1.75 sec daze is incredibly more valuable than a 1 sec stun.

I think CS would be orders of magnitude more worth it if it simply extended daze duration by 50%. Then I might take it.

Along those lines, I wanted to say that, and credit to Chaos who already kind of went this way with his Shatterlock build combining the standard shatter style with some hard lockout can be very powerful. However I’d say that you don’t really need CS to make a hard cc build (and also IP without DE is just too hard for me). I just tweaked the standard 20/20/0/0/30 shatter spec, cause I’m sadly addicted to IP and thus DE, and I love the shatter+ lockout play style.

In Dom I take halting strike, which some might think crazy, but I have found it awesome, and then I take shattered concentration to have my many shatters strip boons.

Dueling is of course DE and I take far reaching manipulations, again because I’ve become completely addicted to max range blink.

Illusions is standard: Precise Wrack, Illusionary Invigoration, and IP.

Runes are mesmer to bump daze up to 1.25 sec (I know it says 33% but this is how the rounding actually works out). Doesn’t seem like much, but as said by Chaos, it adds up to make a huge difference. For example if you set up diversion right, the extra .25 sec can easily add up to an extra .5 or even .75 on the overall daze time, which is huge.

I use great sword or staff, combined with Sword/Sword. Greatsword allows more aggressive shatter play, staff you are little more defensive. I lean towards great sword because, as has been pointed out, lockout style requires very aggressive play, and although sometimes you can bait people into a super daze MW shatter combo with staff, overall I prefer great sword to put on pressure fast.

Only required utility is Daze mantra. Others are preference. I always take blink, and third varies; decoy, portal, mirror images, condo cleanse, etc. can all be fine.

So the main differences in build between standard 20/20/30 shatter are what you take in the Dom line, sword offhand instead of torch, and taking daze mantra.

The main difference in play style is replacing stealth heavy play to set up burst combos from prestige with aggressive lockdown play to set up burst. It seems like small tweaks to shatter spec, but I think you’ll find it’s a very different experience. You have all the shatter tools you need, just without prestige, and you have all the hard lockout tools you need, plus the boon stripping on shatter combined with tons of shatters on low cd and Illusionary Invigoration means you can deal with bunkers easily. Just daze em and Confusing cry to wipe boons before MW burst. Also want to point out that I’ve had no problem escaping in WvW using just blink and mass invis. Decoy makes it easier still. You in no way need prestige to survive in WvW, and that’s being mostly zerker (I basically match Vash’s setup, berzerker+some assassin to get high crit and valkyrie mixed in to get raw HP above 17000).

A shorter idea of how to play is to go watch Allysah’s mind crush dueling video, then go watch Vash’s shatter videos, spec the above and combine em. For those of you who love shatter, but get bored with relying so much on stealth, shatter lockdown with daze as above can be an extremely rewarding experience. The pressure you put out kittenter makes landing interrupts common and actually super easy when you get the hang of it. To me, landing a solid interrupt (on purpose) is the most satisfying thing to do as a mesmer, followed by landing a perfect shatter burst. Cool thing is, you can have both, and it is the most fun I’ve had in gw2 yet.

So thanks to all for giving me the idea to try and master lockdown along with shatter.