Guild Wars 2

is it me or are we cursed with one good skill on are off hands and then one crappy skill?

Temporal curtain is clunky. (I have seen the light this skill is amazing even if the way it applies swiftness is clunky)
illusionary riposte, don’t even get me started. (still rubbish and i stand by that)
Phantasmal mage hits like a wet fish. (same as above)
magic bullet is meh. (ok is has some good uses i was just being harsh on little old magic bullet)
Shields cool thou, well done Geesus and the team.

would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions on offhand skills guys.

thanks for the views on offhands guys

I’m running a phantasm build at the moment where I use both the the offhand sword and pistol, so I use illusionary riposte and magic bullet a lot.
I can’t see anything wrong with them to be honest.
But yeah the phantasmal mage is complete garbage.

The problem with Riposte (bar the line projectile on cancel, ‘cause that’s a whole other can of worms) is for me that you can interrupt the damage portion by dodging after the block. If the damage was instant and the clone was after a cast, I’d be happy because then I could intentionally cancel the clone when I have 3 phants out but keep the block (and damage).

Heck, if it was like Deja Vu where you could recast it for the second part that would be nice, too. (Not recast the block, but cast the Clone + Damage portion instantly at will for a few seconds.)

I disagree, with the exception of the torch I feel all our offhands are range from decent to great. Temporal curtain has learning curve, but its a fantastic skill. The “clunky” feeling is the 1s delay to give it some counterplay.

Magic bullet ranges from good to fantastic depending on build.

Sword does need just a slight bit of love, but riposte is still a decent/good skill.

The phantsmal mage is the only one that really irks me, as I tend to use the torch with power builds. I love both the skills for the pistol and the focus.

Fancy Noob.8475:

is it me or are we cursed with one good skill on are off hands and then one crappy skill?

Temporal curtain is clunky.
illusionary riposte, don’t even get me started.
Phantasmal mage hits like a wet fish.
magic bullet is meh.
Shields cool thou, well done Geesus and the team.

Would love it if Temporal curtain created a circle instead of a wall then when activated pulled enemies into the centre, instead of here there and everywhere on its second skill. Also if it pulsed swiftness instead of the horrible way it applies it currently.

would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions on offhand skills guys.

Temporal Curtain pulls targets to the center of the line. It also has a generous pull range, especialy considering the range in which you can place it to begin with. 5 Target AoE pull? Yespleasethankyouverymuch.

Magic Bullet is fantastic. You press the button, you get the effect, even at great range. The CD is nice, the 2s stun is strong, and with the iDuelist, scepter 3, or sword 2 & 3 creates great synergy. And all this shines particularly well in an interrupt build. Good times.

-Torch is very very strong.
-Temporal curtain is really good, phantasmal warden makes the weapon worse than it should be in pvp.
-Pistol #55 is strong, #4 is alright too. The reason it doesn’t see play in pvp is mainly because torch stealth is pretty op and is a low countplay way to deal with pressure.
-Sword is really lacking. The phantasm is strong, much much better than the torch phantasm. The #4, however, is really bad and would probably need to change to a duration block, a reflect, or something similar, to be viable.
I don’t know about shield yet.

A recurring problem is that, despite fairly strong skills, most off hands never see any high level play because they aren’t defensive enough to play on standard shatter marauder mesmer. Even staff had/has problem surviving vs multiple people compared to the stealth on torch. I think the correct way to handle the problem would be to nerf stealth somehow, rather than buffing other mesmer offhands. Not sure how.

Quadox.7834:

-Torch is very very strong.
-Temporal curtain is really good, phantasmal warden makes the weapon worse than it should be in pvp.
-Pistol #55 is strong, #4 is alright too. The reason it doesn’t see play in pvp is mainly because torch stealth is pretty op and is a low countplay way to deal with pressure.
-Sword is really lacking. The phantasm is strong, much much better than the torch phantasm. The #4, however, is really bad and would probably need to change to a duration block, a reflect, or something similar, to be viable.
I don’t know about shield yet.

A recurring problem is that, despite fairly strong skills, most off hands never see any high level play because they aren’t defensive enough to play on standard shatter marauder mesmer. Even staff had/has problem surviving vs multiple people compared to the stealth on torch. I think the correct way to handle the problem would be to nerf stealth somehow, rather than buffing other mesmer offhands. Not sure how.

Shield will be strong on an interrupt build like pistol, I think, because Tides of Time can stun multiple enemies. Plus, it has two blocks to use. That said, it’s held back by extremely long cooldowns, so that’s a factor as well, and it doesn’t have as strong of a phantasm.

Quadox.7834:

A recurring problem is that, despite fairly strong skills, most off hands never see any high level play because they aren’t defensive enough to play on standard shatter marauder mesmer. Even staff had/has problem surviving vs multiple people compared to the stealth on torch. I think the correct way to handle the problem would be to nerf stealth somehow, rather than buffing other mesmer offhands. Not sure how.

So just to be clear here… You acknowledge that torch is used over all the others because non-torch offhands don’t have the defense to let mesmers survive in matches. Therefor, you conclude that torch should be nerfed.

The abuse of logic here makes my eyes water.

Fay.2357:

Quadox.7834:

A recurring problem is that, despite fairly strong skills, most off hands never see any high level play because they aren’t defensive enough to play on standard shatter marauder mesmer. Even staff had/has problem surviving vs multiple people compared to the stealth on torch. I think the correct way to handle the problem would be to nerf stealth somehow, rather than buffing other mesmer offhands. Not sure how.

So just to be clear here… You acknowledge that torch is used over all the others because non-torch offhands don’t have the defense to let mesmers survive in matches. Therefor, you conclude that torch should be nerfed.

The abuse of logic here makes my eyes water.

It’s not that far off, really. While I think Illusionary Riposte could use some love to increase its use in PvP, and maybe Phantasmal Warden too, it’s pretty hard to say that anything about Mesmer should be buffed right now. I don’t agree that we need a serious nerfing, but I also don’t think we need any buffs in PvP.

(We do need bug fixes and some usability improvements to abilities, though, like Illusionary Leap.)

Our stealth also really is probably too strong. While I don’t think torch itself needs to be nerfed, Prismatic Understanding could use a small amount of toning down (not back to pre-trait revamp levels, but a little lower than it is now). When one offhand is dominating because it offers one skill that is just way too good to pass up, something is clearly wrong, and we’re already strong enough that it would feel wrong to buff us.

Fancy Noob.8475:

is it me or are we cursed with one good skill on are off hands and then one crappy skill?

Temporal curtain is clunky.
illusionary riposte, don’t even get me started.
Phantasmal mage hits like a wet fish.
magic bullet is meh.
Shields cool thou, well done Geesus and the team.

Would love it if Temporal curtain created a circle instead of a wall then when activated pulled enemies into the centre, instead of here there and everywhere on its second skill. Also if it pulsed swiftness instead of the horrible way it applies it currently.

would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions on offhand skills guys.

I also strongly disagree with you. Our off-hands are just fine except maybe iMage is mediocre. iMage needs to have a much stronger initial damage portion, this way torch will be a good weapon for both condi as well as power builds.

Focus is absolutely awesome, especially when traited, you just need to get the timing and distance down on popping iWardens and learn how to fully utilize the reflects on both warden and the curtain.

Pistol is OK, not my thing, but it is OK.

Shield, I dont know, havent played it yet.

What I would really really like is a main hand 1H alternative to scepter. Scepter is by far our worst weapon because scepter one is both badly designed AND buggy in multiple ways and is so bad that vast majority of us play it only for the 2 other skills and because sword doesnt have innate condi applications.

I wish they’d make sword fully functional for both power and condi builds.

Lol I love focus just for the fun pull. It’s so gratifying pulling an enemy off a tower wall into your Zerg in wvw or trolling in EOTM, yanking poor person after person off the cliffs and sending them falling into the mists lol. X3

I’m more concerned with the limited main hands to go with all these off hands…

As for stealth, I dunno, I was roaming with my thief in WvW today and I was easily out stealthing the mesmers and murdering them with complete ease. I guess most thieves don’t realise they can wait several seconds before stealthing if they see mesmers disappear less than 10s after mirror blade. They will win the cool down war.

Here’s how the offhand skills measure up in my eyes.

Focus is ridiculously good! First let’s get the negatives out of the way. Temporal Curtain has a stupid nerf on it that prevents any ally with swiftness to gain more swiftness while running over it. It also has a very low hitbox so it can’t deal with projectiles as well as it should. It also has a 1-second nerf before Into the Void can be used which makes it clunky at times. Even with all that, it’s still an awesome skill! When traited to reflect, it has made so many people kill themselves, they might as well have been on my side. We just need to keep nagging the devs to remove that 3-year old band-aid fix so it’ll be a great skill instead of just good.

I don’t understand why people don’t like the Phantasmal Warden. Yes, it is stationary when it attacks but that can be a boon. Many times I’ve been saved from zerk necros Liching on me by standing within that whirling bubble. Trait it with reflect and you have the makings of a comedy reel.

For the pistol, Phantasmal Duelist does great burst damage and Magic Bullet is an on-demand stun that doesn’t require charging a mantra. This weapon just needs a trait fix to bring up its condi game.

I do have a problem with sword’s Illusionary Riposte. I feel that mesmers should be invulnerable between the time an enemy triggers the counter and the time it takes to summon an illusion. Counter blade should daze foes in the area around the target it hits instead of in a line. I have no problems with Phantasmal Swordsman as it is fast, hits hard and jumps backwards after attacking so it has a good chance of staying alive.

The torch is the only one I feel is bad. While the Prestige is highly valued for its stealth ability, I prefer for my enemies to see me coming. It would also be better if the blast happened while turning invisible as well as revealing yourself. As for Phantasmal Mage, it doesn’t feel unique enough. I suggest it uses the Guardian’s auto attack to place burning and blind on up to 5 enemies while allies near it get a short burst of fury. That would be more thematic and could be worked with traits to turn the torch into a devastating condi weapon.

Fay.2357:

Quadox.7834:

A recurring problem is that, despite fairly strong skills, most off hands never see any high level play because they aren’t defensive enough to play on standard shatter marauder mesmer. Even staff had/has problem surviving vs multiple people compared to the stealth on torch. I think the correct way to handle the problem would be to nerf stealth somehow, rather than buffing other mesmer offhands. Not sure how.

So just to be clear here… You acknowledge that torch is used over all the others because non-torch offhands don’t have the defense to let mesmers survive in matches. Therefor, you conclude that torch should be nerfed.

The abuse of logic here makes my eyes water.

Try chopping the onions under a running tap next time- it’s a good tip to keep the tears away. That said, i never wanted to type a long respone on this thread, but here we go. I didn’t actually suggest that torch should be nerfed. I suggested stealth should be nerfed. Because stealth, in this game right now, is very very strong. This is evident by the fact that the torch weapon is weak in every other regard. In this thread, some people see torch as a weak offhand because of that reason i suppose- it doesn’t have CC or high damage, and it has a useless phantasm that might as well be used for removing blind. Despite this, torch is the most used mesmer offhand in t/sPvP at the moment.

Of course, i know the stealth mechanic won’t be changed, i am only summarising the mesmer Offhand situation and giving an opinion what should be done. I don’t want every other mesmer offhand to straight up be buffed, since at the moment, we are using a condition offhand because it is way too good. Focus, for example, is outlassed att the moment, but is by no means a bad offhand. The condition application of torch should be changed/buffed and the damage and stealth changed/nerfed.

Personally I think all offhand skills are just fine including sword #4. Only exception is torch #5. PMage is just too weak, and what’s up with that fury?

I actually like our offhand skills.
Focus is really good for reflects and the pull/interrupt and swiftness/cripple is really nice.
Sword 5 actually do quite a nice amount of damage. The block is slightly lackluster but it’s ok.
Pistol. The duelist could use a slight damage buff, but overall it’s a good weapon with the 5 skill.
Torch. I mean don’t get me wrong the stealth is really nice but the burn is very weak both on 4 and 5. The phantasm could really use a rework.

Supertramp.5430:

Sword 5 actually do quite a nice amount of damage. The block is slightly lackluster but it’s ok.

No, it’s no ok. It’s not so bad to not use, but it’s not ok. That’s not a block-skill, but a trigger-a-sligh-teleport-on-hit channel.. The dmg is negated by blind/dodge/aegis/out-of-range.. You can eat more dmg ‘cos the block is ~rooting you there for 1 second while you could have move out of the damage.. Yes, when somehow you hit the enemy for 5k it’s nice, but then you could say the the engi off-hand pistol skill Blowtorch is nice even if it misses 80%..

It’s not ok and need serious QoL improvements.
F.e. give it ~1 sec of Distortion after block or make it so that you can block the full ~2 second and then you have ~5 second to cast the dmg+clone skill.. Or something to make it a more defensive skill so we don’t have to rely on stealth!

Remove the cast time of the aftercast of Sword4 and/or make it a second optional cast for both the damage and clone (in lieu of phantasm builds). This prevents you from eating more damage due to the root (it’s not a very good skill if you want to cancel it every chance you get).

And yes, in most scenarios, I will roll-cancel my block-damage to prevent myself from eating more. This means it is no longer a damaging ability and simply a delay before a roll (and since it doesn’t get the Warrior abusive sword-block ability, you can’t use it as a very good defensive ability).

I mean, suuuure you can block a killshot (but they can also make it unblockable lel), but does that really make up for it?