Guild Wars 2

After spending a couple of months in PvP getting more comfortable with player combat I recently started spending some time in WvW. And boy is the slow speed of this profession painful. :/ It seriously makes me not want to log in sometimes.

I hate having to not put the runes on my armor that I really want because I have to use runes to give me some semblance of speed. I’ve been using centaur runes but even that is annoying. I even changed my build from 20/20/30 to 0/20/30/20/0 to use the mantra to help power the runes… but it’s still every 12 or 15 seconds I have to hit the button again, and then check how many charges, and then recharge the mantra, and hope some enemy doesn’t come out of nowhere while I’m recharging.

That’s mostly just whining, I realize. But it’s incredibly tedious.. especially when my other main WvW char is a thief that can zoom from one end of the map to the other.

Anyway, I’m thinking of splurging for a set of traveler’s runes. I have 1 that I actually got on a lucky drop, so 50g for the rest. I can afford it, since I’m somewhat of a miser and I don’t spend $ on cosmetics or luxuries normally, though it will mean a good chunk of my ‘net worth’ in 6 runes. But it’s still a lot.

And while the runes are pretty nice overall, they’re not ideal for my build by any means. (I’d love to try runes of perplexity.)

So before I drop what’s a mint to me on these things.. anything I should reconsider?

Rune of Centaur + Mantra = Permanent Swiftness.

- Centaur runes
+ Traveller runes
= perma 25% without having to pop your heal at inappropriate times

Swiftness may offer more speed but it only works in theory. In practice, its great when running randomly (though you do get tired of it) and fail as soon as you enter combat.

You could go with cheaper Speed runes as well (one of those traveller runes will pay for that), however what they give is really meh aside from the 25%. Traveller runes are pretty much omni runes, any build has decent use of the stats.

Either way they are well worth it and a quality of life improvement beyond anything the Mesmer can get.

I’m ok with the slow speeds TBH; I really enjoy the extreme in combat mobility that perma-vigor, sword 3, and staff 2 gives. Couple those with blink, decoy, distortion, chaos armor, and blurred frenzy and the mesmer is one of the most illusive classes to fight against. Of course they still aren’t as Z-axis mobile as the thief, but that’s to be expected.

MrAmputatoes.6031:

I’m ok with the slow speeds TBH; I really enjoy the extreme in combat mobility that perma-vigor, sword 3, and staff 2 gives.

Yes, of course.

Its just that people with 25% perma speed, perma vigor, sword 3 and staff 2 enjoy it even more.

I just jumped into runes of speed for my GS -S/F power build… they didnt break the bank and padded the HP.

Valinor.9647:

I just jumped into runes of speed for my GS -S/F power build… they didnt break the bank and padded the HP.

that’s what I have been using lately in spvp. I thought.. let me give it a try. Now I just cannot play without it anymore. It does indeed add a good chunk of survivability and they are good. I would use the travelers in wvw if I only could make up my mind on which set to put them. having them on more than one would be just too much for my budget

Dawdler.8521:

- Centaur runes
+ Traveller runes
= perma 25% without having to pop your heal at inappropriate times

Swiftness may offer more speed but it only works in theory. In practice, its great when running randomly (though you do get tired of it) and fail as soon as you enter combat.

You could go with cheaper Speed runes as well (one of those traveller runes will pay for that), however what they give is really meh aside from the 25%. Traveller runes are pretty much omni runes, any build has decent use of the stats.

Either way they are well worth it and a quality of life improvement beyond anything the Mesmer can get.

Yeah, pretty much coming to the same conclusion. It just stinks that I just read in another thread about how much nastiness people can dish out with perplexity runes. Hate having to make the choice, though I still think the speed will be hard to pass up.

The runes themselves do seem to have some nice general purpose stats so I guess I’ll just cough up the cash.

JETWING.2759:

Rune of Centaur + Mantra = Permanent Swiftness.

For WvW:

Rune of Centaur + Exotic Cold Potion = Permanent Swiftness.

Or this, especially with some boon duration. Plus, you never have to waste a heal or mantra.

I honestly would never play my mesmer in WvW or PvE if I had to open my inventory to click something every 15 seconds.

Qaelyn.7612:

I honestly would never play my mesmer in WvW or PvE if I had to open my inventory to click something every 15 seconds.

Well you can have the inventory up in the bottom corner with just the potion showing, alternatively, you can switch to mirror heal for the shorter CD then switch back to ether when getting ready to engage.

I had travelers on my hybrid phantasm build but went back to centaurs because I missed the 33% movement speed, extra power, plus bleed duration.

Try centaurs for a couple days, they are cheap.

Qaelyn.7612:

I honestly would never play my mesmer in WvW or PvE if I had to open my inventory to click something every 15 seconds.

I admit that it is slightly annoying. However as already suggested, you can keep your inventory open and move it to the bottom right side of your screen so only the first couple of inventory slots shows (it does cover some of the map unless you move your map).

The extra bonus is you can provide 33% swiftness 100% of the time for 5 players.

Couldn’t agree more with the overall feeling of this thread. Personally, I’m still pretty new and traveler runes are out of my budget entirely. I’ve been using runes of speed, but I would love to spend my money on a different type of rune.

Like a lot of other people, I can’t stand not having some kind of perma speed. It would be great if we just had other options outside of runes.

Sure would be nice if we could just get some other way to get speed…

IMO: Inspiration 6, Compounding Celerity doesn’t make a whole lot of sense since we can’t make illusions out of combat. If it instead was something like: “gain X% speed boost per readied mantra” then we would at least have another option besides runes. Or maybe give one of our signets a speed boost factor like what a lot of other professions have.

Helping out other players is the only thing I’d miss about the centaur runes. But it doesn’t matter when I’m solo, or in a zerg, and when I’m in a havoc group there are usually other players doing it anyway.

Might just be me but having to do something every few seconds drives me out of my mind. Also, aren’t those things consumables? That would add up quickly.

Guess I’ll just cough up the 50g.

Really, Traveller runes are sorta a must have for all classes which don’t spec a passive +25% runspeed, at least for PvP.

There’s really little way around it. Expertise, Concentration, Runspeed, all in one set of runes.

Now ofc you’ll say “But but, the other classes have +25% speed signets! :’(” (well, four do, two more can spec +25% passive, and one has it the same as us but their swiftness weapon was fixed to at least somewhat stack!). To which I say: If your utility slot isn’t worth more than your set of runes, you are either doing a pure dungeon berserker build (and runspeed no longer matters) or you need to rethink your setup.

There are exceptions ofc. As always. Example Blackwater, where you need the +confusion power. But those are few and far between. Runspeed is close to the strongest stat you can run in any PvP format (but more so in WvW), and you really don’t want to sacrifice potentially game-changing class utilities to get it.

Carighan.6758:

Really, Traveller runes are sorta a must have for all classes which don’t spec a passive +25% runspeed, at least for PvP.

There’s really little way around it. Expertise, Concentration, Runspeed, all in one set of runes.

Now ofc you’ll say “But but, the other classes have +25% speed signets! :’(” (well, four do, two more can spec +25% passive, and one has it the same as us but their swiftness weapon was fixed to at least somewhat stack!). To which I say: If your utility slot isn’t worth more than your set of runes, you are either doing a pure dungeon berserker build (and runspeed no longer matters) or you need to rethink your setup.

There are exceptions ofc. As always. Example Blackwater, where you need the +confusion power. But those are few and far between. Runspeed is close to the strongest stat you can run in any PvP format (but more so in WvW), and you really don’t want to sacrifice potentially game-changing class utilities to get it.

I agree whole heartedly, which is why I’d love to see Compounding Celerity changed to give us run speed outside of combat rather than in. Call it Illusionist’s Burden. It gives us a 25% boost whilst NOT having any clones or phantasms.

I want to love mesmer in WvW, but being tied to certain rune choices which limit my build choice if I want out of combat mobility is a massive downer. Especially when one of those rune choices sets you back at least 54g for the set.

In sPvP i don’t mind the lack of run speed too much. Smaller maps and more frequent skirmishes between objectives means I never feel like I’m just sight seeing.

For now, I’ll keep levelling my engineer. Speedy kits is immense and easily incorporated into most decent roaming and group builds.

Centaurs + Mirror works nice, especially with a PU build because you have the +boon duration. This also synergizes well with the trait that removes two conditions on heal.

Mirror is rather enjoyable in WvW due to the reflection it provides (which can prevent more damage than any of our healing skills could actually heal — making the Mirror heal that much more effective).

Lastly the 15s cooldown means it’s almost always available when you need it (even when blowing it perpetually for swiftness between combat sessions).

I would like travelers runes but they are expensive and you will take a hit to power (serious hit compared to centaurs). The +bleed duration is nice with sharper images (assuming that actually works).

Okay I bought the runes. Now I just have to convince myself to soulbind them on my exotic rabid armor (which I’m pretty settled on, mind you).

there are tons of build options using traveler’s, just re-create the build using the traveler’s, that’s what i’ve done on my power mesmer and condi mesmer. For me the advantage of dropping a speed utility to pick up another utility is priceless, I have traveler’s on my thief, power mesmer, condi mesmer, and soon to be on my necro (once i hit level 80). Sure i could probably min/max my build a little more using different runes, but then i’d be out a utility, that could ultimately help me win.

I still want a +25% speed boost sigil.

Calling it now – ascended infusions with +1 or +2% run speed on each.

Edit:
Trouble with armour runes is
- if you pick travaler/centaur/air, you need to waste a utility slot for condition removal (either the mantra or null field)
- if you pick condition defence (hoelbrak/melandru), you need to waste a utility slot for mobility – ie clever use of portal to make up for slowness, signet of inspiration for RNG swiftness…

It’s a problem either way.

Well, it’s done. Ah.. I can breathe again.

juno.1840:

I would like travelers runes but they are expensive and you will take a hit to power (serious hit compared to centaurs). The +bleed duration is nice with sharper images (assuming that actually works).

Based on my calculations, the hit isn’t as great as I thought it would be. Yes you’re looking at -135 power, but +30 on everything else and the boost to critical damage compensates to some extent.

From what I can tell, the overall damage reduction comes to around 2.5% on my hybrid build. That’s taking into account the slight nudge in critical chance and the significant boost in critical damage.

But the traveler’s also give other benefits at least to a hybrid mesmer. My condition damage modifier is 5% higher, and I’ve got a 10% condition duration boost across the board. The centaur runes give a 15% bonus to bleed which complicates things for sharper images, assuming it works as you said.

Overall, I think the centaur runes probably would give me a slight boost overall in terms of damage output compared to travelers. The travelers give a slight boost defensively (30 more armor, 300 or so more health). Basically it’s a wash, at least for me.

But I can run.

Dawdler.8521:

- Centaur runes
+ Traveller runes
= perma 25% without having to pop your heal at inappropriate times

Swiftness may offer more speed but it only works in theory. In practice, its great when running randomly (though you do get tired of it) and fail as soon as you enter combat.

You could go with cheaper Speed runes as well (one of those traveller runes will pay for that), however what they give is really meh aside from the 25%. Traveller runes are pretty much omni runes, any build has decent use of the stats.

Either way they are well worth it and a quality of life improvement beyond anything the Mesmer can get.

Traveler do not exist in sPvP. But ok for WvW.