(Since I’m still adding to the Mesmer guide, I figured I’d work on a series of informative articles that could be commented on/improved by all of us before implementing them into the guide. Also, this way readers have quick access to important facts without having to fish through the thread. If anyone has anything to expand upon, please sound off in the comments)
CONTENTS (Make sure to check out What kind of Mesmer are You? for further into on Shatter, Phantasm, Lockdown, and Support builds.)
Note about Deceptive Evasion(DE) and Illusionary Persona(IP) : Deceptive Evasion and Illusionary Persona are easily some of the most build-changing traits we have. Any build that makes heavy use of Shatters, conditions, stealth, or clone-deaths should have Deceptive Evasion as it is easily our best and fastest way to produce clones. Illusionary Persona flat-out increases every aspect of Mesmer you could build around. Having the shatter effect radiate off of you means you can use your F-keys without ever needing a clone. This means Mind Wrack/Cry of Frustration hitting much harder, Diversion can interrupt instantly, and Distortion can save your life without clones. The classic 20/20/0/0/30 Shatter Mesmer makes excellent use of these traits.
(edited by Chaos Archangel.5071)
WHO AM I?
With such a versatile, creative class one of the first and constant problems less experienced Mesmer have is trying to figure out what kind of Mesmer they want to be. While the leveling process can feel painful and rather tedious(like trying to sleep with an Asura) it is an important chance to discover your favorite weapons, skills, traits, and playstyle. Experiment with everything and ask yourself the following questions
- Power builds: Sword, Greatsword, Pistol, Focus
- Condition builds: Scepter, Staff, Pistol, Torch
-Open World PvE/Farming: Tired of the indignity of running screaming with your arms waving while mobs of centaurs have a grand old time chasing you across Tyria? Having a hard time hitting mobs in an AoE? A Sword/Focus – Greatsword Phantasm build is great for forcing enemy groups into tight clusters (Focus 4, Sword 3) while your AoE Phantasms have their way with them.
-Dungeons: It is generally accepted that most dungeon bosses can be melee’d with the proper amount of CC. If your goal is to maximize damage to cruise through Dungeon, fractal content then you’ll want to outfit in Berserker/Assassin’s gear, grab Sword+Pistol/Sword+Sword (with Focus on hand when needed), Feedback, Signet of Inspiration, and trait 10/30/0/30/0 or 10/30/0/0/30. HOWEVER if you are not used to the dungeon content or are not confident in constantly staying melee, run Scepter or Greatsword to learn enemy rotations. Do not use Greatsword is an eternal crutch, anyone can learn to melee and you’re mentally limiting yourself by not trying to increase your skillset. We are Mesmer, and thus should hold no such menial mental blocks. ( Guanglai Kangyi’s Mesmer DPS Guide )
-PvP: Besides acting as overdramatic Thieves, Mesmer have a hard time finding a place in sPvP. Our most favored team oriented skills are Portal, Illusion of Life, and Signet of Inspiration and Shattered Concentration(Domination VII) but MAKE SURE no matter your composition, you have at least 1 stunbreak (Decoy, Blink) and 1 form of Condition removal (Null Field, Arcane Thievery). Lyssa Runes and Melandru Runes are popular for defense while Scholar/Ogre/Eagle runes are taken for offense.
( SOAC Supcutie PvP Interview )
-WvW: Mesmer make excellent roamers and scouts, and in larger fights our Glamours (Feedback, Null Field) can make a difference when properly placed. We lack the mobility of other classes, but we can take Traveler’s runes, a Focus, and/or traited Blink (Dueling I, Chaos III) to keep up. Portal is especially noteworthy for transporting Golems and supply runs.
( Osicat’s Best WvW Moments Part 1 )
-GvG: (Under Construction) Seriously.. We need more people talking about Mesmers in GvG.
(edited by Chaos Archangel.5071)
DAMAGE / CONTROL / SUPPORT / SURVIVABILITY
Though a build is made up of many parts, chief among them are a build’s damage output, ability to control enemys, ability to assist allies, and how well it survives. Investing in one category usually means a decline in another, so finding the right balance is crucial. At the same time, having too much balance can be a detriment; a jack-of-all-trades is a king of none. You want your build to stand out, to be excellent at something and fairly good at most others sometimes at the cost of lacking in one section. A full mantra damage build lacks the team support/control Mesmers excel at. A full boon/healing support build will excel with a partner, but be ineffective alone. Make sure you trait accordingly:
>>> DAMAGE - Made up of either Power or Condition Damage (sometimes both)While a majority of our DPS comes from either shattering or maintaining clones and phantasms, Mesmer damage tends to go hand-in-hand with control (Ex: Reflects and clone-death traits). Our only utility skill that does damage is Mantra of Pain
CONDITION
-Debilitating Dissipation – Potential 3xBleeds on clone-death. (Chaos V)
-Sharper Images – Illusions cause Bleed on Crit. (Dueling 15)
- Illusionary Retribution – All Shatters inflict Confusion. (Illusions 5)
- Blinding Befuddlement – 1x Confusion of Blind (Illusions IX)
-Master of Misdirection – Confusion lasts 33% longer (Illusions V)
-Confusing Combatants – Illusions cause 3 seconds of Confusion when killed. (dueling 25)
- Chaotic Transference – 5% of Toughness = Condition Damage (Chaos 25)
POWER
-Halting Strike – Damage on Interrupt (Domination II)
-Wastrel’s Punishment -5% increased damage to stunned/dazed foes. (Domination 25)
-Compounding Power -3% more damage for each of your active illusions. (Illusions III)
-Mental Torment – Mind Wrack does 20% more damage. (Domination I)
- Precise Wrack – Mind Wrack has a 10% higher crit chance. (Illusions I)
- Empowered Illusions – Illusions inflict 15% more damage (Domination III)
- Phantasmal Fury – Phantasms have Fury (Dueling II)
- Phantasmal Strength – Illusions inflict 15% more damage (Inspiration 25)
- Empowering Mantras – 4% more damage for each readied mantra. (Dueling XI)
>>> CONTROL -Control is the Mesmer’s specialty. Hindering movement (Cripple), reflecting projectiles, punishment for attacking (Confusion), and eliminating boons/conditions are some of the many ways we can hinder the enemy, most of which are in the DOMINATION land CHAOS lines. With access to an abundance of reflects, nearly all the boons/conditions in the game, and a control ability on every weapon, Mesmer is a swiss-army-knife of utility.
-Illusion of Vulnerability/Dazzling – 3x Vuln for 5 seconds on interrupt. / 5x Vuln for 8s on Daze (Domination 5 / 15)
- Rending Shatter -Shattering illusions causes vulnerability for 8 seconds to nearby foes. (Domination IV)
- Crippling Dissipation -Clones cripple nearby foes when they are killed. (Domination V)
- Shattered Concentration -Shatter skills also remove a boon on hit. (Domination VII)
- Confounding Suggestions -50% chance to cause a 1-second stun whenever you daze a target. (Domination XII)
- Debilitating Dissipation -Clones apply Weakness/Vulnerability/Bleed to nearby foes when they are killed. (Chaos V)
- Mirror of Anguish -When disabled (by stun, daze, knockback, knockdown, sink, float, fear, or launch), you mirror the disable back to the source. This effect can only trigger once every 90 seconds. (Chaos VII)
- Warden’s Feedback -Focus skills reflect projectiles. Reduces recharge of focus skills by 20%. (Inspiration VIII)
- Chaotic Interruption -Immobilize your target when you interrupt them and randomly apply blind, cripple, or chill. (Chaos XI)
- Vengeful Images – Grants retaliation to Phantasms. (Inspiration 5)
- Dazzling Glamours -Glamour skills blind foes at target location. (Illusions VIII)
- Imbued Diversion -Distraction [F3] hits in a wider range AoE. (Illusions XII)
(edited by Chaos Archangel.5071)
>>> SUPPORT – Mesmer support, besides our many ways to control the enemy, comes in the form of boons and healing. Because of our staff and Signet of Inspiration, boon support is our primary way of assisting allies while heals are a secondary, if not tertiary affair. Mesmer support tends to be enemy control first, damage second, boons third and finally, if needed, AoE healing. All of our support traits are in the INSPIRATION line
-Phantasmal Healing -Phantasms pulse 3s Regeneration every 3s
-Medic’s Feedback -Create a feedback bubble while reviving an ally. (10s recharge)
-Vigorous Revelation -Shattering illusions grants vigor to nearby allies.
- Restorative Mantras -Heal allies when you charge a mantra.
- Shattered Conditions – Using a shatter skill removes one condition per-clone-shattered from you and allies around you.
>>>SURVIVABILITY- _Mesmers naturally have a lot of ways to deal with physical damage at the cost of a weakness to Condition Damage. Though we’re a light armor class our weapons, shatters, and traits make us extrodinarily hard to kill… Just ask anyone who’s fought a Mesmer in PvP/WvW. The CHAOS, INSPIRATION,
and DUELING lines has our most Survivability traits.
-Critical Infusion -Gain 5 seconds of vigor on delivering a critical hit. This effect can only trigger once every 5 seconds. (Dueling 5)
-Desperate Decoy- -Cloak and leave a clone of yourself behind at 25% health. (Dueling V)
-Protected Mantras -Gain up to 400 toughness while channeling mantras. (Dueling VI)
-Blurred Inscriptions -Activating a signet grants you 1 second of distortion. (Dueling VIII)
-Deceptive Evasion -Create a clone at your current position when you dodge. (Dueling X)
-Metaphysical Rejuvenation -Gain 10 seconds of regeneration when your health reaches 75% (30-second cooldown). (Chaos 5)
-* Illusionary Membrane* -Gain protection for 3 seconds when you gain regeneration. This effect can only occur once every 15 seconds. (Chaos 15)
- Chaotic Revival -Gain 5 seconds of Chaos Armor when you rally. (Chaos I)
- Descent into Madness -Create a chaos storm when you take falling damage. Take 50% less damage from falling. (Chaos II)
-Illusionary Defense -3% reduced damage for each illusion you have in the world. (Chaos IV)
-Cleansing Inscriptions * -Activating a signet removes a condition. (Chaos XI)
-Prismatic Understanding* -Cloaking skills last 1 second longer and you gain a random boon once every second while stealthed (protection, regeneration, or aegis). (Chaos XII)
-Phantasmal Healing -Phantasms grant regeneration to nearby allies. (Inspiration 15)
-Mender’s Purity -Remove a condition when you heal. (Inspiration IV)
-Compounding Celerity -Move 10% faster for each active illusion. (Inspiration VI)
-Restorative Illusions -Heal a small amount when you shatter illusions. (Inspiration XII)
(edited by Chaos Archangel.5071)
Nice companion post to the compendium! +1
I’d throw in some discussion of Illusionary Persona somewhere (maybe its own section?) since it’s such a game-changer for shatter-oriented builds – it plays a role in damage (large boost to Mind Wrack), control (insta-diversion) and survivability (insta-distortion).
Imbued Diversion is also worthy of a mention in the Control category.
Very nice and informative post!
Im seriously thinking about putting this in my “favourites” thing and linking it to people, but… Its missing something!
A table of contents! This post is pretty huge, and someone looking for quick and specific advice can easily get lost here while reading the intro.
5 minutes later
Ok, I read it for the third time now (don’t judge me), and I actually think the intro is very catchy and appropriate :P. I still believe a table of contents would be fitting though!
How would you know sleeping with an asura is “painfull and tedious”? Actually, I’m just going to believe you here and not ask any further questions…
UPDATED 10/2/13
Thx for the suggestions guys (Coulda sworn I already had Imbued Diversion there. Chaos Failangel -_-).
@Alissah: One day I’ll muster up the courage to find me an e-tux, and e-ring, and get on my e-knee and ask you to e-marry me. Till then, as always, I hella appreciate the support! As for the Asura thing… everything has to be tested once, right? (Hint: Painful? They have fangs. )
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