Guild Wars 2

I am just curious if there are any successful mesmer builds that work without putting any trait points in Dueling.

So far I have seen many builds, mostly Shatter build, Condition build, Phantasmal build, etc, all of these builds rely heavily on Dueling traits, especially DE, of course……

If a class do not function effectively without one specific trait, then I would say the class design is flawed…..

I have my funky dungeon support build which is 20/0/30/15/5, I run it mostly in Berserker gear and it is no shatter build.
Shatter builds need Deceptive Evasion. Other builds do not, even though it might be a nice addition.

The problem is that Dueling branch is simply too good to be ignored.
All traits work together! And since you need Precision in condition and power based builds …

I suppose an heavy phantasm build or a support mesmer can do well without DE.

I have yet to see a shatter build without the use of deceptive evasion.. I’d also like to know if there’s a viable way of making a shatter build that relies solely on weapon clone generation instead..

I’m currently using a 20/0/0/20/30 build and it’s working pretty well. I’ve used it in dungeons and PvE (haven’t tried it in WvW yet). I can swap from glamour specialist to mantra-spam heal to boon supporter (via Signet of Inspiration). Weapon-wise, I’ve been using staff + sword/focus mainly, but I’ve also used gs + scepter/focus. I’m currently using rare carrion armor and exotic weapons with major sigils of battle and bloodlust. My runes are all currently majors, but they’re water, monk, and fighter. Honestly, I’m having more fun with this build setup than my precision one, not to mention DE clones don’t attack your target and can cause unnecessary aggro. It’s not the most damaging, but it provides a nice mix of dps and support with some control.

One viable alternative is a 0/0/25/25/20 build with staff and +condition gear. It’s very tanky and a lot of fun if you like to outlast opponents. I used that build (or something like it) as I leveled. I dropped the build after diving into WvW at level 80. It’s too slow in a zerg resulting in fewer tags (and therefore fewer badges). It’s also more difficult to tag foes in DEs.

I enjoy the burst of a 20/30/0/0/20 GS shatter build with Deceptive Evasion more. Less tanky, but more DPS. When fighting at range you take less damage anyway. In solo WvW you have clones to take hits for you. Add in Blink and Decoy and 1v1 foes are easily befuddled. Mass invis is also good for survivability and additional befuddlement.

None. that’s why i said if anet feels like nerfing DE there will be no more point of playing mesmer for me. Its the most important trait mesmer has

ANet nerfed all the good builds that didn’t call for Deceptive Evasion. That’s all there is to say.

Builds that don’t use DE (or don’t have to use DE):

- 30/30/0/0/10
- 20/0/0/20/30 (power)
- 20/0/0/20/30 (glamour)
- random support build with x/x/20+/20+/x
- 10/20/20/0/20 (condition)

my current build only runs 10 in dueling, with 30 in inspiration (love that tree!) and 30 in illusions

The build only uses shatters offensively with Cry of Frustation to stack confusion on the target and retaliation on myself, so I don’t really need to have nonstop clones out. That and it focuses on keeping phantasms out for damage and regen.

The shatters are used mainly for iPersona+Restorative Shatters <3

Obviously you can make builds without it, but I have to say I would try every angle to get it in pretty much any build that doesnt need all the trait points for build-required stuff in other trait lines. It’s just that awesome.

Even if you dont make that much out of the extra clones, they are still taking hits, being a distraction, and if you used dodge rolls to escape harm getting an extra attention sponge in the process can only be good.