Guild Wars 2

Hello, Mesmer’s!

-Origin
So a few days back my Guild Leader asked if he could have that all the Mesmer’s try to stick as tight to the Mele Train as possible (in WvW). In the I tried Mantra Healing, but face it, it pretty boring (well to me it is), I tried just being bunkerie and place my TW/ Glamor when it was time….boring.
In the end I tried PU for god knows why and it took me complete by surprise.

-Build-
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNAsfWlsnpUt9pxANUrNCvxY6ByIhTmyIlMgbB-TVzCABQcIAo7EAAwBCYKlDGcEASRbgO7PglSskfAASpk4R1fmTHwYKBDAgAQE6MHapAMRYE-w

So let’s start of with the Survival side of this, shall we?

Now we all know how fights start (well most if them); Veil.
Veil = PU, so there! Got off to a good start! Some nice Aegis, Protection, and Regen off to the start!
Next is clash (gulp). Now I got some good boons for survivability already, (I will most likely get Stability too). Now let’s zoom fast to one of the worst problems there can be; Hammerstun. I’m stunned and getting pounded, quick staff, Phase retreat, switch sword Blurred Frenzy. Ya..so there you go, could get out that pretty good ^^.
Need to go through Zerg?? Mimic! Got some reflect for a good 4 sec. Can also dodge a few times, get some clones up and Distortion with it + Chaos Armor for boons at the end.
So those are the Main things referring to the Survival side.

K so next part.
Traits!

-Deuling-
I use Deceptive Evasion to get a quick Distortion or to get some – damage income input from trait Illusionary Defense.
Blade Training/ Desperate Decoy/ Far-Reaching Manipulations can work with this no problem.

-Chaos-
PU- Survival Boons
Chaotic Dampening- need to have Phase Retreat ready ASAP, and need the extra Toughness.
Illusionary Defense- I will have at-least 1 clone up almost always.

-Inspiration-
Mendor’s Purity- I have my healing skill on low CD and I need this (duh) Survival.
Temporal Enchanter- my Guild Leader wants Glamor to be touched in Traits. Now this is what you prefer, if you want to use Mendor’s Purity at ready and want to be abit more supportive then go with Restorative Mantra’s.

Next Part!
Utility’s!

Signet of Inspiration- oh how I enjoy this skill! In about 2-3 clash I will go Chaos Armor + Heal + The Prestige and spread the love with the Signet. (However this can be switched out for Veil if you are needed for it, there’s a limit to how supportive you can be)

Mimic- I need the Reflect when going through enemy Zerg and getting away from tough situations like being chased by a Ranger- JUST KIDDING-

Null Field- Guild Leader wants Glamor on Mesmer’s and I prefer this then feedback so ce I’m with Mele Zerg and I can cleanse me self.

Mirror- I want the Reflect + low CD so Mendor’s Purity is right around the corner and I get a boon for 10 sec from Rune of Lyssa.

Next Part!
-Runes/ Armor/ Weapons/ Sigils/ Accessories-

-Rune’s and Sigil’s-
Lyssa!
Now ppl say that this got nerfed…and it did! But still usable! I simply love the 10 sec boon on Heal, and let’s face it, the major skill isn’t bad, cleanse on TW pretty nice ^^.
Also I have some nice Precision and Condition Duration from it so there’s some DMG to me build.

Staff: Perception- for DMG I like to focus on Precision.
Water- Survival
Sword: Renewal- Survival
Luck- The more Boons the Merrier.

-Weapons and Armor-

Sword: I use sword for when I see a lot if Downed players to tag em all, or when I think it’s clear to “Bomb” an area with the rest of the Mele Train. I use it mostly for Blurred Frenzy since it provides for both of these.

Torch: Prestige = PU = Survival.

Staff: Chaotic Dampening = more Toughness. I use it also for the boons it could give from Chaos Armor/ Storm and need Phase Retreat to be a bit more Mobile and get some clones up for -damage income

I use Soldier’s gear Atm for the + Power and Survival. And Rabid for Condition Damage and Precision on Weapons.

Accessories: I use Soldiers and Rabid for an equal amount if DMG and Survival.

-The Verdict-

In my opinion this Build is not meant for Beginners, practice with it or you will get smashed in the clash (hehe…rhyme). It is, however, a really fun build if you use it well, trust me, pretty intense xD
People would might say that this build is selfish and only is good for yourself, but what do you expect when you want a Caster to tag with Mele Train? This build can be called selfish to some points, but not all. Mesmer’s are supposed to be there for our TW and Veil (and sometimes other Glamor skills), but this build provides much more then only those 2-3, it gives the right survival Boons to counter an enemy Zerg.

Hope you all like this build, it’s still in testing so much appreciated for Feedback (not the Utility skill HA HA). Thinking of maybe switching around the Sigils abit.

Anyway, Happy Hunting everyone!

~Sera

(Being Edited due to spelling/ grammer)

The build looks good and all, and you’ve made a great post organizing it / explaining how it would be played… but there’s one thing that sticks out to me: You are going to do zero damage. You have very low Power. You have good crit, but low Crit dmg, and your power is already low, so your crits aren’t going to be that great.

I know in a Zerg train it doesn’t really matter because you just steamroll through things but… I just think there are a lot of better options to help your Zerg out (that can still include PU-Boon sharing), as opposed to you just staying alive a long time.

I’m not really sold on this build. However, I’ve haven’t experimented too much with running PU in a melee train; on paper it sounds like a bad/not-really-effective idea. When you’re running with a melee train, you’re counting on your fellow warriors/guardians to soak up most of the aoe damage. What you need to provide for yourself is mostly stability and condi-cleanse for immobolize/cripple or else you’re going to get left behind and picked off. Unless you’re running at least 2 guardians consistently in your party, I don’t see you having sufficient stability to stick tight to the tag during multiple pushes. Keep in mind Unsteady Ground/Line of Warding/Static Field are unblockable so Mimic and Aegis will have no effect.

Where PU does shine in this build though is when you do stray behind, you will be able to get back to your commander with less hassle. However, having only one source of stealth besides veil to utilize PU is questionable.

I also believe Illusionary Defense is not a good trait for melee train mesmers because your illusion uptime is too low because of cleave damage. You should swap out to Debilitating Dissipation/Manipulation CD.

Here are my proposed changes to your build (traits/skills only):

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNAsfWl0npKtlqxMNUrNyqxY6Z2plTtUpvI7AA-TVzCABQcIAo7EAAwBCYKlDGcEASRbgO7PglSskfAASpk4R1fmTHwYKBDAgAQE6MHapAMRYE-w

In summary, I dropped 2 points in inspiration to pick up harmonious mantras for both the 3-charge mantra heal and stability. I also dropped PU and went for double traited blink because I think that this will aid your survivability more (very helpful with getting back on the tag if you’re out of position.) If you’re really confident about your stability, drop mantra of concentration for mimic (it will benefits from the same traits as blink.) However, do keep in mind that the stability mantra helps your party a lot as well.

In addition, I heavily recommend running energy sigils (endurance on swap) on both weapon sets. I would also run full Knight’s, adding in some Soldier’s if you prefer. I don’t like Lyssa runes in this build as well. Possible alternatives include Centaur, Traveler’s, Pack, (or Guardian if you’re using Mimic).

Also, as a side note, don’t forget that your own staff bounces can trigger your Mimic.

TL:DR – PU aint gonna help you stick on your commander, only find your way back to him. Get Blink. Consider Mantras. Run Knight’s/Soldier’s.

Xaurniven.2065:

In my opinion this Build is not meant for Beginners, practice with it or you will get smashed in the clash

I’m sorry to say, but any braindead monkey on mesmer can survive with 1900 toughness &1590 vitality, not even counting guard stacks on that.
You deal 0 damage. There’s no reason for a mesmer to stay full melee all the time unless you’re trying to tag for bag at big blobs.

You also said ‘’when stunned, just use phase retreat’‘? You do know that phase retreat doesnt break the stun, but only ports you away right? And there’s a decent chance you will even port on a worse spot.

I don’t understand any of these zerging builds tbh. There’s no reason in running anything else besides shatter. You can run 20-20-0-0-30 tanky spec when your guild actually needs help stripping boons and immobilizing targets, or you can run 10-30-0-0-30 nearly full zerker when you’re farming eb and chaining immunities. Anything besides that is kinda useless. You either deal no damage, have no survivability or your utility (such as boon removal or immobilizes) is bad.

Also, whats up with this mimic spam lol. If there’s 1 skill that’s unreliable its mimic, especially in large scale.

@everyone who said this build has 0 damage: I did not say this was a DMG build, this isn’t even a build I prefer, alls is me Guild Leader wanted a build to stick near the Mele Train.
This is 90% support, and it’s a support type that I prefer

^kitten, didn’t mean to say that I don’t prefer it, meant to say that this a build that will allow you to roam with Mele Train. Not touching big DMG

adelaide.6213:

I’m not really sold on this build. However, I’ve haven’t experimented too much with running PU in a melee train; on paper it sounds like a bad/not-really-effective idea. When you’re running with a melee train, you’re counting on your fellow warriors/guardians to soak up most of the aoe damage. What you need to provide for yourself is mostly stability and condi-cleanse for immobolize/cripple or else you’re going to get left behind and picked off. Unless you’re running at least 2 guardians consistently in your party, I don’t see you having sufficient stability to stick tight to the tag during multiple pushes. Keep in mind Unsteady Ground/Line of Warding/Static Field are unblockable so Mimic and Aegis will have no effect.

Where PU does shine in this build though is when you do stray behind, you will be able to get back to your commander with less hassle. However, having only one source of stealth besides veil to utilize PU is questionable.

I also believe Illusionary Defense is not a good trait for melee train mesmers because your illusion uptime is too low because of cleave damage. You should swap out to Debilitating Dissipation/Manipulation CD.

Here are my proposed changes to your build (traits/skills only):

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNAsfWl0npKtlqxMNUrNyqxY6Z2plTtUpvI7AA-TVzCABQcIAo7EAAwBCYKlDGcEASRbgO7PglSskfAASpk4R1fmTHwYKBDAgAQE6MHapAMRYE-w

In summary, I dropped 2 points in inspiration to pick up harmonious mantras for both the 3-charge mantra heal and stability. I also dropped PU and went for double traited blink because I think that this will aid your survivability more (very helpful with getting back on the tag if you’re out of position.) If you’re really confident about your stability, drop mantra of concentration for mimic (it will benefits from the same traits as blink.) However, do keep in mind that the stability mantra helps your party a lot as well.

In addition, I heavily recommend running energy sigils (endurance on swap) on both weapon sets. I would also run full Knight’s, adding in some Soldier’s if you prefer. I don’t like Lyssa runes in this build as well. Possible alternatives include Centaur, Traveler’s, Pack, (or Guardian if you’re using Mimic).

Also, as a side note, don’t forget that your own staff bounces can trigger your Mimic.

---

TL:DR – PU aint gonna help you stick on your commander, only find your way back to him. Get Blink. Consider Mantras. Run Knight’s/Soldier’s.

Ty for the advice
Although I realy believe that the Boons you get from PU are key, are you sure about switching them out?
The idea with Energy Sigils is a great idea btw! And yeah maybe go with Knights too ^^.

BlackDevil.9268:

Xaurniven.2065:

In my opinion this Build is not meant for Beginners, practice with it or you will get smashed in the clash

I’m sorry to say, but any braindead monkey on mesmer can survive with 1900 toughness &1590 vitality, not even counting guard stacks on that.
You deal 0 damage. There’s no reason for a mesmer to stay full melee all the time unless you’re trying to tag for bag at big blobs.

You also said ‘’when stunned, just use phase retreat’‘? You do know that phase retreat doesnt break the stun, but only ports you away right? And there’s a decent chance you will even port on a worse spot.

I don’t understand any of these zerging builds tbh. There’s no reason in running anything else besides shatter. You can run 20-20-0-0-30 tanky spec when your guild actually needs help stripping boons and immobilizing targets, or you can run 10-30-0-0-30 nearly full zerker when you’re farming eb and chaining immunities. Anything besides that is kinda useless. You either deal no damage, have no survivability or your utility (such as boon removal or immobilizes) is bad.

Also, whats up with this mimic spam lol. If there’s 1 skill that’s unreliable its mimic, especially in large scale.

Your right I can run 10 30 0 0 30 or any other Zerker Build. However, not be offensive, I don’t care about that, I want to run supportive and not change my build entirely.

But…. Whats the purpose of it? Why not melandru runes? Why not -condition duration food? Why not even veil or blink? Basically you’re making a meatshield of yourself that deals no damage, has 0 stunbreakers, has poor condition removal or even reduction and has 0 utility. I think rangers got builds like that too, what makes this build any better than a ranger in raid?

What’s the purpose of this? Just sticking with the commander won’t help much.

• you don’t provide much utility: immobilize from sword, timewarp and null field, very weak boon sharing (that other classes can do a lot better with a lot less investment in utilities/traits/gear)
• about null field: there’s no point in prolonging it’s duration, no group will stand inside it’s area of effect for that long. On top of that, Null field will cover “better” fields like chill/water for blasts for a longer time and you don’t want that
• mixed stats gear: why? only power/crit/ferocity makes sense in big groups, conditions will be removed very fast anyway
• no -condi duration from food or runes
• no stun breakers: you really want either blink or mantra of concentration
• very low damage
• mirror is worse than ether feast in pretty much any wvw scenario
• sigil of water is terrible, really: your group doesn’t need that, you don’t need that
• I never tested sigil of renewal but I suspect it’s the same
• if you want another on kill sigil, I would go for sigil of stamina instead of luck

As Doiid mentioned, and from my personal experience, at the moment, only shatter makes sense for the frontline: it provides one of the best utilities in game (boon stripping) and gives you better survival overall. If you want to be a little more tanky you can even go 4/0/4/0/6 (you lose a bit of boon removal potential) or 0/2/4/2/6 (but you lose your boon removal potential).

Edit: I don’t think you are “running supportive”; with this build you are at best useless and at worst a liability to your group. Mesmer support is not about boon sharing (guardians) or healing (guardians, eles, warriors). Mesmer support is boon stripping, veil, portal, timewarp, focus pulls, sword/staff dazes with longer duration or interrupts that immobilize keeping people away from the regroups…

Menaka.5092:

What’s the purpose of this? Just sticking with the commander won’t help much.

• you don’t provide much utility: immobilize from sword, timewarp and null field, very weak boon sharing (that other classes can do a lot better with a lot less investment in utilities/traits/gear)
• about null field: there’s no point in prolonging it’s duration, no group will stand inside it’s area of effect for that long. On top of that, Null field will cover “better” fields like chill/water for blasts for a longer time and you don’t want that
• mixed stats gear: why? only power/crit/ferocity makes sense in big groups, conditions will be removed very fast anyway
• no -condi duration from food or runes
• no stun breakers: you really want either blink or mantra of concentration
• very low damage
• mirror is worse than ether feast in pretty much any wvw scenario
• sigil of water is terrible, really: your group doesn’t need that, you don’t need that
• I never tested sigil of renewal but I suspect it’s the same
• if you want another on kill sigil, I would go for sigil of stamina instead of luck

As Doiid mentioned, and from my personal experience, at the moment, only shatter makes sense for the frontline: it provides one of the best utilities in game (boon stripping) and gives you better survival overall. If you want to be a little more tanky you can even go 4/0/4/0/6 (you lose a bit of boon removal potential) or 0/2/4/2/6 (but you lose your boon removal potential).

Edit: I don’t think you are “running supportive”; with this build you are at best useless and at worst a liability to your group. Mesmer support is not about boon sharing (guardians) or healing (guardians, eles, warriors). Mesmer support is boon stripping, veil, portal, timewarp, focus pulls, sword/staff dazes with longer duration or interrupts that immobilize keeping people away from the regroups…

Well now that’s what I like to hear ^^
Our role, yup been fussing with that thought in me head a while now.

ty all for your comments and feedback :D
much appriciated
EXCEPT for the ones that make me feel like I did a big mistake of being useless for a few days…….xD

This thread just proves the poor state the Mesmer class is in now, especially in wvw zergs.

Anet – revert Blinding Befuddlement, make Glamour builds work viable again.

Xaurniven.2065:

Ty for the advice
Although I realy believe that the Boons you get from PU are key, are you sure about switching them out?
The idea with Energy Sigils is a great idea btw! And yeah maybe go with Knights too ^^.

Yes, I do not believe PU will not help you stick to your commander significantly better, especially since your only source of stealth is the torch. You’re essentially getting about 4 seconds of aegis, protection, and regen every 30 seconds from it; not worth it imo.

If you get split off somehow, PU will give you some breathing room to get back into the melee train. However, 1200 range blink will accomplish the same thing instantly (How far can you run in 4 seconds of your stealth?)

By taking 3-charge mantra of concentration you help other melee in your party stack tight through multiple pushes; alternatively you may take 3-charge mantra of resolve for condi cleanse if your melee asks for it (that is, in addition to your own 3-charge healing mantra with 2 condis removed per charge thanks to mender’s purity; you will basically be condi-immune)

If you look at the sigils melee warriors/guardians typically run they include Water, Energy, Renewal, Stacking , Stamina (endurance on kill.) You will see an energy sigil on each weapon set for any dedicated melee player 9/10 times. As for the second sigil slot of each weapon set you may choose to run stamina. I don’t really like sigil of water for mesmers because you won’t be getting that many hits off besides during chaos storm. If you’re in a non-serious environment I would recommend sigil of hydromancy on your melee weapon set for direct damage+chill during swap. This will help you with tagging for loot as well as giving your team some minor burst.

In summary if I’m in a zerg melee train, I would run:
Energy / Hydromancy -> Sword/OH
Energy / Renewal -> Staff
Energy / Fire -> GS (fire helps with tagging)

Xavi.6591:

This thread just proves the poor state the Mesmer class is in now, especially in wvw zergs.

Anet – revert Blinding Befuddlement, make Glamour builds work viable again.

There ARE other builds you know ._.
Although chances are slim as hell to be getting that back xD