Guild Wars 2

So right now it’s pretty obvious that doubling up on sword mainhand is the best way to go (at least for PvE) but with all the new traits, especially buffs to GS and staff, some new specs with currently worthless weapons might be viable. For example:

Pistol:

- If confusion is changed to a DOT like was hinted, and now that mesmers get confusion on crit, Pistoleros will be able to stack substantial amounts of both (possibly 20-25 of each before condition duration, since pistol attacks have an additional chance to bleed now too), meaning a Rampager or Sinister Pistolero spec may actially be viable.

- Interrupts give big CD reduction, including to the interrupt skill itself, so interrupt/pistolero spam?

Greatsword:

- Regular clones have high rate of fire and will reduce CDs on each attack. Will get high condition stacks plus fast cooldowns if you stack clones.

- Fast cooldown on Mirror Blade means lots of might (to spread with auto-SoI trait). Fast CD on interrupt skill means lots of quickness procs, again to spread around.

Staff::

- Staff clones have a decently high rate of fire (now that Winds hits twice by default) and stack bleed/vuln/burn by default on top of on-crit stuff.

- Chaos Armor is easy to get and gives big CD reduction (25% per application). Can get two applications from staff skills alone (#4 and Chaos Storm + Phase Retreat) for 50% every 18 seconds or so.

- Warlocks still have super high overall damage and the shortest phantasm cooldown.

Potential new builds:

- Rampager or Sinister Pistoleros. Get massive stacks of condition damage while spamming interrupts for quickness.

- Berserker staff. Burst with clock utilities + Chaos Storm + Warlocks.
+ Blazblue.
- Rampager/Sinister GS. Stack 3x clones for massive CD reduction (about 12% per second with 3 clones up) and go ham with interrupt spam for quickness stacking on party, while getting decent condition stacks (each clone should be able to maintain 4-5 stacks of bleed+confuson base). May also work with staff depending on how damage values of bleed/confusion play out compared to burn.

Mesmer definitely looking like one of the stronger classes for HoT, at least until we hear more about the other specializations.

That’s really good to hear guang, but I’ve a question..

How often/likely is it for Mesmers to land interrupts on bosses on dungeons? In PvP an interrupt build is only good if you can manage to land an interrupt about every 8-10 seconds. What should a Mesmer speccing interrupt traits be on the lookout for?

I’m pretty sure the OP is talking about PvE Mesmer, so interrupt builds aren’t really meta there. Most of the time they mess with defiance removal, though when they change that to a bar…it might go from being useless to useful. Dunno about making/speccing an interrupt build for PvE…doesn’t seem too helpful.

I’d just like to be able to use my staff in dungeons…I love that weapon with Mesmer and it pains me to have to use a GS for ranged damage. Sure, mirrorblade is a great skill but clones from a staff are actually useful as they can give fury and might as well as the condi. All a GS clone does is stand there and proc a crit hit a few times. Not to mention all the staff skills have a place in the rotation, where as the GS has that push that’s not so used in a dungeon setting (unless you want to get the ranger in trouble). Though the new GS trait is really interesting, but you’d have to keep clones and not phantoms up to get the time reduce…it’s a dps trade off.

With the elasticity trait becoming baseline…maybe I’ll be able to dust my staff off and get to use it one day.

I didn’t mean building around interrupts in PvE, but Guang specifically mentioned the pistol interrupt trait, which is making me wonder where /when interrupts are preferred in PvE.

rabidsmiles.5926:

I’m pretty sure the OP is talking about PvE Mesmer, so interrupt builds aren’t really meta there. Most of the time they mess with defiance removal, though when they change that to a bar…it might go from being useless to useful. Dunno about making/speccing an interrupt build for PvE…doesn’t seem too helpful.

I’d just like to be able to use my staff in dungeons…I love that weapon with Mesmer and it pains me to have to use a GS for ranged damage. Sure, mirrorblade is a great skill but clones from a staff are actually useful as they can give fury and might as well as the condi. All a GS clone does is stand there and proc a crit hit a few times. Not to mention all the staff skills have a place in the rotation, where as the GS has that push that’s not so used in a dungeon setting (unless you want to get the ranger in trouble). Though the new GS trait is really interesting, but you’d have to keep clones and not phantoms up to get the time reduce…it’s a dps trade off.

With the elasticity trait becoming baseline…maybe I’ll be able to dust my staff off and get to use it one day.

GS clone has the fastest attack rate (averaging a bit over one hit per second) so they will proc crits more than any other illusion except Pistolero.

Mirror Blade is also the fastest recharging clone generator other than scepter primary which honestly sorta sucks, and if it bounces repeatedly the same target it’s actually worth more damage than Chaos Storm (2.1 coefficient with 3 hits versus Chaos Storm being about 1.9).

Staff clone on the other hand has a baseline bleed/burn but their attack rate is also slower. Compared to GS clone, which has 3 chances to inflict bleed and confusion at around a 70% chance (in rampager gear), a staff clone only gets 2 chances to crit for bleed/confusion, but gets two additional chances to bleed or burn. In terms of condition damage, it’s really going to boil down to whether 5 ticks of bleed and .7 stacks of burn (on average) is worth more than 3.5 ticks of bleed and however much confusion you get from the extra greatsword hit.

Then again the condition damage aspect may not even matter very much since Blazblue > Mirror Blade > Berserker > Chaos Storm > Warlock > clocks > shatter > de-Blazblue > repeat is looking to have the potential for an absolutely ridiculous anti-boss burst of direct damage.

I don’t think they are? Maybe he’s thinking about when it changes to a defiance bar instead of stacks? It’s hard to interrupt a boss when he’s got those kitten defiance stacks on him…

Guanglai Kangyi.4318:

Staff clone on the other hand has a baseline bleed/burn but their attack rate is also slower. Compared to GS clone, which has 3 chances to inflict bleed and confusion at around a 70% chance (in rampager gear), a staff clone only gets 2 chances to crit for bleed/confusion, but gets two additional chances to bleed or burn. In terms of condition damage, it’s really going to boil down to whether 5 ticks of bleed and .7 stacks of burn (on average) is worth more than 3.5 ticks of bleed and however much confusion you get from the extra greatsword hit.

True enough…we are getting the chance to stack confusion and bleeds. Still I prefer my staff clones, probably because I prefer the staff. I like the synergy between the phantom and the clones/my AA. Not saying GS is a terrible option, I just find most memsers who use it…stand there in a dungeon and spam AA over and over and over and it gets old fast. With that new GS trait, we are going to see a rise in GS spammers.

Interrupts might be extremely difficult to land on bosses when they roll out the new break bar mechanic instead of defiance. I might be wrong, but that’s the sense of the thing that I got.

Condition GS + Sword/Torch MtD shatter with sharpened images, confusing combatants and Sum of all Fears, tormenting runes…
http://dulfy.net/2015/05/02/gw2-specialization-calculator-that_shaman/#profession=mesmer&traits=%22Dueling%22,1,5,9-%22Illusions%22,3,4,9-%22Chronomancer%22,1,4,9

maybe not the most optimal but kitten , you will likely “confuse” a lot of people who will expect power shatter with that weapon set. xD

Fay.2357:

Interrupts might be extremely difficult to land on bosses when they roll out the new break bar mechanic instead of defiance. I might be wrong, but that’s the sense of the thing that I got.

Would be nice if Anet made it so CCs still count as interrupts for purposes of traits if you hit a move that would be an interrupt if not for Defiance. Tbh I’m not even sure how interrupts will work on bosses but I’m also not really expecting bosses to be a huge issue in the first place with the new Chronomancer stuff.

Chaos Archangel.5071:

That’s really good to hear guang, but I’ve a question..
How often/likely is it for Mesmers to land interrupts on bosses on dungeons? In PvP an interrupt build is only good if you can manage to land an interrupt about every 8-10 seconds. What should a Mesmer speccing interrupt traits be on the lookout for?

Fay.2357:

Interrupts might be extremely difficult to land on bosses when they roll out the new break bar mechanic instead of defiance. I might be wrong, but that’s the sense of the thing that I got.

Maybe I’m just in upwards hype mode but I had the impression that it’ll actually be easy for mesmer to land lots of interrupts with the new break bar but it does come down to something simple. Does each CC that brings down the break bar count as an interrupt? or only the final hit? My gut didn’t even think about the latter until you guys mentioned it. I’m in the next round of beta so I’ll check it out but…

MoD, Pistol 5 and F3 will make for 3 simultaneous interrupts. Another really big one that most people might not think about especially with mesmer is blind. Those are supposed to be 1/5th as effective compared to CC but will still reduce the break bar and we can trait for blind on shatter. IP+3 illusions = 4 interrupts!? F3 means 8!???!

The reason I’m so hyped/hoping it goes this way is actually bountiful interruption and Illusionary inspiration. Basically it’ll be like GS warrior. It can be selfish and solo stack 25 might or can be specced to give a group 25 might. Not as easy as spamming warrior GS skills but when does might really matter now? Break bar is supposed to be 100% DPS boost and the mesmer is going to be riding that break bar hard!

So (Dom, Illusions, or Chrono)+ Duel, Chaos for selfish might. Dom, Duel, Chorno when others provide might. Duel, Chaos, Inspiration for the “PS warrior” mesmer. Or Dom, Duel, Inspiration for a hybrid reflect support DPS when the group has “medium stacks of might” that can be amplified.

I personally still thought Sword/Pistol+Focus (+shield) is still going to be optimal under most conditions. Blurred frenzy is going to be 8 confusion. Pistol/focus will stack a lot of bleeds/confusion single target/aoe. F5/Focus 5/Signet/Focus 5/F5/Focus 5 = 36 bleed/confusion in an aoe. Chronophantasm F1,2, or 3 to reset them and do it again! Shield would be for once max DPS illusions are up so why not give your group quickness and have an interrupt.

Guanglai Kangyi.4318:

Fay.2357:

Interrupts might be extremely difficult to land on bosses when they roll out the new break bar mechanic instead of defiance. I might be wrong, but that’s the sense of the thing that I got.

Would be nice if Anet made it so CCs still count as interrupts for purposes of traits if you hit a move that would be an interrupt if not for Defiance. Tbh I’m not even sure how interrupts will work on bosses but I’m also not really expecting bosses to be a huge issue in the first place with the new Chronomancer stuff.

Would be nice, but I doubt it. See: power block nerf.

DuckDuckBOOM.4097:

MoD, Pistol 5 and F3 will make for 3 simultaneous interrupts. Another really big one that most people might not think about especially with mesmer is blind. Those are supposed to be 1/5th as effective compared to CC but will still reduce the break bar and we can trait for blind on shatter. IP+3 illusions = 4 interrupts!? F3 means 8!???!

Blind is not an interrupt. It might affect the break bar, but it absolutely won’t be treated as an interrupt. Additionally, blinding dissipation does 1 pbAoE blind per shatter, not per clone.

Something to test if any of us gets into beta, I suppose. I, too, am very curious how Interrupt traits interact with the new defiance break bars.

Fay.2357:

DuckDuckBOOM.4097:

MoD, Pistol 5 and F3 will make for 3 simultaneous interrupts. Another really big one that most people might not think about especially with mesmer is blind. Those are supposed to be 1/5th as effective compared to CC but will still reduce the break bar and we can trait for blind on shatter. IP+3 illusions = 4 interrupts!? F3 means 8!???!

Blind is not an interrupt. It might affect the break bar, but it absolutely won’t be treated as an interrupt. Additionally, blinding dissipation does 1 pbAoE blind per shatter, not per clone.

I’m not so sure of this and again will go back to how the break bar works/pve works. Those mordrem menders and a lot of small trash mobs can be “interrupted” by auto attack cleave/damage. Those aren’t “interrupts” in the technical sense but this procs halting strike/lighting rod. So IF reducing the break bar counts as an interrupt then blinds should count for an interrupt if it reduces the break bar.

However this also makes me wonder about power block. If it counts as a succesful interrupt then does it force the skill on CD before the bar is broken? Fair point about the blind shatter.

I remember some place a while back, a dev was talking about the new bar and saying how blinds would be ‘less’ than say a halting strike in terms of amount of the bar break. Not sure how little that number will really be and if traiting for blinds would be effective for it. All I know is, a mesmer will be helpful to a group when it comes to breaking that bar down efficiently and quickly…and all our new toys will secure us more of a role in group work, besides being the guardian’s reflect back up.

1 more thing that was not mentioned that will hugely impact mesmer DPS
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Whirl_finisher
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Projectile_finisher
p.Duelist and p.Warden for the win!

Fay.2357:

Interrupts might be extremely difficult to land on bosses when they roll out the new break bar mechanic instead of defiance. I might be wrong, but that’s the sense of the thing that I got.

With everyone in the party (or, even worse, in the zerg in open world content) dropping CC on those break bars, it’ll be hard to take interrupt traits: unless you land the last interrupt they won’t probably proc…

Has anything been said about Pistol range now that the trait doens’t seem to increase it anymore?