Guild Wars 2

Hi all fellow Mesmers,

I am wondering if anyone out there has a nice build they can share with us that works well with the new dungeon FoTM.

Although I completed level 2 with a 3 man party on my shatter focused build, I felt this build was not bringing enough to help the party overall.

Trait-wise I’ve been running mostly for shatters as well, since it’s decent AoE. Utilities end up being things like Blink, Null Field, Mantra of Concentration, the phantasms and Signet of Inspiration. Inspiration in particular seems to go nicely alongside guardians, with Arcane Thievery in certain encounters (like the jellyfish and its 25x might), and with the big retaliation you can get from Confusing Cry + the sword/focus double combo.

There are probably other ways to exploit Inspiration in this way, though.

I haven’t had the chance to progress further than level 4 yet, however my crit/condition build/style has been working perfectly fine. I have recently put less focus on the GS and more on the Staff.

Not necessarily a build, but what you should keep in mind is that we are great at striping boons as well as Defiant charges off enemies, and interrupting their channels. Maaayyyybe not as good at boon removal as a Necro (unless you are using Sword+clones), and not as good as removing defiant or interrupting as a thief, but we can do both those things very well.

Also, we can be fairly resilient, maybe not resilient enough to stand on a button or platforming area while getting beaten on, but if given a bit of room to manoeuvre, we can be very tanky.

I run a condi build. I even solo bosses sometimes when my pugs die.

I run a mixed build, since there’s no way to retrait inside and I like to be versatile.

I’m logged out now so I can’t look at my build, but I think it goes something like:

Domination 20: ?, IX (torch condition removal)

Chaos 15: II (half fall damage)

Inspiration 15: IV (heal condition removal)

Illusion 20: V (confusion duration), VII (extra bounce)

Utilities: Null field, Feedback/Portal, Signet of Domination/Illusion of Life

I’ll usually go with a staff, and scepter+torch, but in the frozen Svanir one, I’ll go with sword and pistol, and swap in Phantasmal Haste (Illusion X).

The illusionary mage still isn’t that great, but traited to remove conditions it’s a poor-mesmer’s disenchanter without taking up a utility slot. Plus, it doesn’t move much unless the target’s all over the place, so it’s a decent source of regeneration.

In the frozen Svanir fractal, I run with a sword and pistol, at least until the ice elemental is defeated. Traited thusly, the duelists not only put out a ton of damage on the elemental, but allow you and allies to temporarily cluster up on it for some serious melee-range damage while counteracting the frostbite with their constant regeneration. Time Warp just adds to the fun here. Another little perk of phantasms in the boss fight of this one is that when he teleports back up on the ledge, sometimes our phantasms become invulnerable to his ice-storm attack, yet maintain their regeneration boons.

With this build I bring significant condition control and utility, though bear in mind that a tall blade of grass, an errant snowflake, or a glittering mote of dust can obstruct your phantasms, rendering them useless until you can get around it somehow.

I’m using [sword,scepter]/focus + staff myself. I run 0::0::20::30::20, usually using the manipulation cd, staff cd, focus cd and phantasm cd traits. The rest of the traits I’ll slot around as necessary, but my utilities are typically also null field, feedback, and blink.

When taking care of trash, or I know that a boss needs some controlling, I use the sword to help hinder movement. If it’s a single-target encounter I’ll use my scepter, which I prefer. Staff is around for general support and kiting capability, as well as a solid switch during my longer cd periods (or I can swap over and be able to use a 3 clone shatter in about 5-6 seconds). With the speed boost, retreat, and blink, I’m quick to move for encounters like the dredge facility (btw, how do you 3-man the switches? I’m assuming portal, but that seems inefficient). The focus skills and feedback keep many ranged attacks at bay. I wish null field was a faster recharge, but it works for me well enough in the majority of cases that I have to purge conditions/boons in an area.

I’m currently in a condition focused armor set, so I still feel as if I hit like a wet noodle using the sword, but it’s still more damage than scepter auto-attack, and by the time I have enough clones to shatter for aoe on the scepter my group has the mob down. I love the svanir shaman, when I time the confusion correctly he takes 1,800 damage for every one of those ice shards he summons, which looks to me as if it’s about twice a second.

Here’s a build.

1. Press F12
2. Select character
3. Create a warrior/guardian or log yours.
4. Begin facerolling.
5. Enjoy your ascended gear.