Guild Wars 2

I love that mesmer lets us vary our playstyle in so many different ways. In this vein, and in looking for some variety, I’ve been trying recently to play a front line mesmer in guild runs or havoc groups, staying on leader/commander and with the guards and warriors. I’ve been experimenting with soldiers and dire variants—condition builds having higher damage potential but neutered a bit by the aoe condi clears in zergs, power builds doing a bit more targeted damage but having a lot less aoe. And both of course run mantra of concentration and at least one glamor plus timewarp, for group support.

Anyway, I have two questions:
1. Do mesmers have a place on the front line in large GvGs or ZvZ?
2. If so, what has anyone else found to be most effective for front line fighting?

And also, I’d love some feedback on the front line dire, clone-spamming build I am trying out at the moment. I feel like I can shift around 10-15 trait points, but still tinkering with where.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAsdWlwzSpHVTmGaNJipCB3JFK3yRqQpV6Bvdh0GA-j0CBoOCiEDgk3AEIQZSFRjtsuIasKZRWVDQzATlKp+AKryAUtGA-w

Looking at it I think the build you’re running there may be a bit squishy for front line.

I’m working on a similar build at the moment and I’ve come up with:
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAW7dl4zSpHVTsGa9IiJFBHydSB05cleEbX4tB-j0BB4iCy0CQEDBOTqIasVTFRjVJjIqWpETKAmkGB-w

Spamming clones on dodge is fun, and with the mantras you provide a bit more support with the heals on mantra.

1) most definately. i usually frontline ZvZ as a mesmer.
2) the most effective frontline fighting for me is be at the head of the zerg next to the commander and lay down etheral field when both heads from the zerg collide. i find that null field works the best. i usually run torch off hand. i will stealth in lay down null field and have prestiege grant 5 members chaos armor. hammer guards i find like to intiate with hammer #2 blast finishers so its good team play. it is real pretty to see bunch of purple bubbles, the zerg glows for a few seconds. when chaos armor ends i blur frenzy for the evade and by this time the tail of the enemy zerg caught up to the head so i end up hitting a lot of them already. then i either decoy out or blink out for cd and rotation or help downed players in the back. but mantra of concentration might be a better option because the only time i fail at intiating is when i get CC right off the bat…usually from static fields and/or line of warding which makes my prestiege go off before i can cast null field. the second stability from mantra would be perfect for getting out after you burst/buff/debuf for the team and wait for your cd’s.