Guild Wars 2

On a whim I used all my PvP ascended armor rewards on light armor because I dislike all 3 light classes and wanted to get to understand them better. I went with the default berserker since it’s always a safe choice.

I slapped it on my chrono and am doing world completion to get a feel for the skills. It seems like nearly every trait and half the skills encourage you to be hybrid rather than pure power. Is viper’s comparable or even better damage than regular ol’ berserker’s, with all the agony and confusion that I can toss around (let’s just assume something lives past the first attack)?

I realize this is extremely vague since I haven’t specified any game mode or trait lines, but basically it’s a learning exercise. I plan on getting 100% world completion and then probably doing some WvW roaming with the intention of learning how to counter every aspect of mesmer better in PvP and WvW. However I have given her a GS and S/Sh for starters.

Confusion and torment are both garbage in PvE, so no.

Thanks, good point. What about for WvW roaming, is viper’s generally used over zerk there? I know the PvP meta used vipers and that’s about the extent of my knowledge of the build other than how to fight against it. With an entire shatter dedicated to condi damage it seems like hybrid is the way to go, ya?

Fluffball.8307:

On a whim I used all my PvP ascended armor rewards on light armor because I dislike all 3 light classes and wanted to get to understand them better. I went with the default berserker since it’s always a safe choice.

I slapped it on my chrono and am doing world completion to get a feel for the skills. It seems like nearly every trait and half the skills encourage you to be hybrid rather than pure power. Is viper’s comparable or even better damage than regular ol’ berserker’s, with all the agony and confusion that I can toss around (let’s just assume something lives past the first attack)?

I realize this is extremely vague since I haven’t specified any game mode or trait lines, but basically it’s a learning exercise. I plan on getting 100% world completion and then probably doing some WvW roaming with the intention of learning how to counter every aspect of mesmer better in PvP and WvW. However I have given her a GS and S/Sh for starters.

eww mesmer?

I actually have a viper set for WvW whenever I want to change playstyle. You just have to be careful not to get instagib by thief in stealth etc. I usually trait for defensive traits but you actually have quite a bit of tweaking room in traitlines.

Try whatever you find best, I find chaos/insp/chrono or chaos/illusion/chrono useful since stealth still works quite well in WvW.

Fluffball.8307:

..Viper..

Fay.2357:

Confusion and torment are both garbage in PvE, so no.

As @Fay.2357 mentioned mesmer/chrono can output confusion and torment most. However that doesn’t mean the condi side of mesmer is bad as there are more condition you can do without the randomness

For starters if you use dualing traitline you can have bleeding on critical hits and pistol skills, also you can have 3x Phantasmal Mage (torch 5) if you use Signet of Ether (Healing) and Continuum Split (F5). That does get up 6 burning stacks. Additionally using doom and geomancy sigil adds poisen and bleeding on weapon swap.

So in short it may not compete with the top tier condi builds/classes. But it is viable

StickerHappy.8052:

eww mesmer?

I know right? I’m actually enjoying the open world stuff so far. I think the first time I got mesmer to 80 I was just too inexperienced with the game and didn’t have good enough keybinds to do the whacky stuff you can do. Even something as simple as GS2>insta shatter wasn’t something I could pull off 4 years ago. I think I could even beat some scrubs on glass mesmer at this point.

Can anyone please post a solo PvE build for HoT maps (meta events) and the new Living World S3 zones? The metabattle PvE builds seem to focus on group support, I guess there are some changes when soloing?

Mesmers are fragile flowers. Condition mesmers depend on tanky stats so that their damage can do its thing. Power shatter relies on not getting hit. If you try to compromise the two you will end up taking damage equal to both incompetent power and condi Mesmers which will of course be death.

I managed to get good enough at power shatter that I can kill people in WvW, or at least survive long enough to run away. Which is a massive improvement over my literal 5% win rate in PvP on mesmer (no I’m not kidding.) Playing mesmer is all about having good keybinds, that’s why I learned to hate the profession 4 years ago. It’s so much easier now.

I feel like viper’s is viable though, I apply an awful lot of confusion. Isn’t that why it’s used in PvP?

If you’re planning to roam wvw then Viper with Cele trinkets works nicely and is very flexible with choice of weapons.

I barely play right now (might be more active if there’s a big balance patch), but in the past year I have enjoyed the following in wvw, open world pve, and even fractals (with some adjustments).

The gear is flexible enough to be adapted for casual instanced pve, while also being optimised for wvw.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhQQNAsfWl0nhy0YnawRNwtGLvGV9wesLLaAkTP35PEEHHA-TFyHABJqGwcKBB4JFw7+Dzr6zSK/U+UKMu+mAAIAzn8Jf5j8lv8lvhO0hO0hO0uuQH6QH6QLFQfrBA-w

Infusions are all wvw resilient (not displayed in the calculator).

In pve I switch weapons to Scepter/Focus, sometimes traiting Focus if reflects are needed, and Sword/Shield, also traiting Scepter, Illusionary Inspiration, Persistence of Memory and switching Chrono traits for Alacrity on wells and Improved Alacrity, Swapping Mirror Images for Well of Recall and Mass Invis for either Gravity Well or Time Warp. Sometimes Taking Feedback if needed. Only need to swap out 5 trinkets and 5 pieces of armour for the required agony resistant pieces, allowing reuse of weapons – so doesn’t require an entire duplicate set of gear from wvw, saving inventory space and gold. Also don’t waste this food in pve – better to use pure damage food and save the Buns for wvw. Oh, I also swap some of the cele trinkets for more Viper and more damage.

In wvw the main draw of this build is the good hybrid damage for roaming -> enemies can’t just pop resistance and ignore you (though still do kite them out so as not to waste condi application). Also the very good passive -condi duration thanks to the food, runes and Time Marches On. Chill/Cripple and Immobilise barely stick, and I have not yet been beaten in a 1v1 vs a pure condi mesmer while playing this, even running into some good ones. Quite a lot of stalemates because of lack of big burst damage, but if they stay and fight you should win providing you manage the active condi removal carefully for the longer duration application (mantra heal, shatters, cleansing sigils, torch skills). In fact I fear good power mesmers much more than condi mesmers while playing this because they can burst through your lower defensive stats. Must play very well around them, and don’t take greatsword if you see a power mesmer coming because they use it better than you do – quick swap out for something else.

WvW stat bonuses and any amount of might make up for the slightly weaker damage.

Now you will need to stock up on a lot of Sweet Bean Buns before they go up in price. I stockpiled about 3750 of them during Lunar New Year -> enough to last till next year (probably for the next 2 or 3 years given how often I play right now…), because supply is constantly decreasing and you want to buy them under 20s, not 70s or worse. Without Sweet Bean Buns, the synergies of the build kind of fall apart. The passive -condi duration makes up for the weakness of having lower armour and vitality (though still over 2400 armour and 20k health) because your time to kill on enemies is longer (no big burst). Without it you are playing a slightly glassier build with not enough burst damage to kill fast enough for you to stay alive. It is essential that you can negate cc conditions, otherwise you may as well switch to full condi with more sustain or power shatter with faster kill time.

Biggest burst is F5 Mirror Images shatter spam combo – but prioritise F1/F2 due to power damage.

Also running with an ally who shares might is amazing (ie rev or ele).

Sometimes I have played with Greatsword and Sword/Torch which really confuses enemies because they expect power shatter. The might stacks from mirror blade create a non negligable F1 burst, and condis continue to tick for decent damage in any case. Though I think Staff is a better choice for the survivability of the build because I have been killed by enemy power mesmers while using Greatsword as your burst is much less than theirs and they can clear conditions almost as well as you. Staff enables you to out sustain them, though you have to accept some enemies being able to run away. You could take any weapon combo you want tbh.

Also thanks to the food/runes/TMO, you can feel free to experiment with other traitlines than Inspiration (Illusions is a must for Condi application) and Chrono if you want to take SoI or Focus for swiftness. You can take Domination for even more damage thanks to things like Rending Shatter (which is actually useful in a hybrid build – stacking vuln and might from any source really helps your damage) and maybe even Imagined Burden with Greatsword, though I’ve not tried this and it might suck. Duelling of course for Sharper Images and tons of shatter fodder from DE. All in all you can swap things around as you like, providing you always take Illusions and some form of movement speed bonus.

Just out of curiousity, what is the best PVE condi build for Mesmer, regardless of how poorly it performs?

Obtena.7952:

Just out of curiousity, what is the best PVE condi build for Mesmer, regardless of how poorly it performs?

I would like to know this as well.

I know nothing about mesmer, but you can do some ludicrous (relatively speaking) damage just with the scepter autoattack and pistol phatasm. I don’t know if that’s used anywhere or like meta or anything, it’s just something I noticed because I used to have my mesmer in dire gear before I learned how to play it. I took the traits that reduced the CDs and then also the one that gives condis on shatter.

#not useful post from a guy who doesn’t play mesmer

Obtena.7952:

Just out of curiousity, what is the best PVE condi build for Mesmer, regardless of how poorly it performs?

I think you would have to look at core mesmer build that modifies all the condi possibilites.

Something like this build: http://tinyurl.com/mes-core-condi

Traits:
I chose trailblazer gear becouse of Chaotic Transference trait. This gives additional condi damage based on your toughness. But i geus you can go with viper and choose Chaotic Dampening trait too.

Further i also chose Phantasmal Haste in Illusion over Maim the Dellusioned. This becouse i think torment doesnt do much, and there for i think you will have more damage uptime if lets say your Phantasmal Mage (torch 5 phantasm) attack more often. Alltought in open world you would shatter(burst) more often, so other one would be more useful there i geus.

Skills:
I think these speak for themself. SoE to cast another Phantasm Mage, SoM + SoD for additional condi damage and uptime. SoI for boon(share). Can be replaced if want/needed. And finally Timewarp for quickness.

Gear:
Again i went for complete trailblazer couse of trait in Chaos traitline. Can go for viper too. But regardless i think you need to go beyond 100% duration on mesmer. Becouse other then confusion and torment, your condi damage is mostly random. So you want them to last as much as possible.

Chrono variant: http://tinyurl.com/mes-elite-condi
First of..why? Well slow and clone/phantasm respawn after shatter. And my personal reason: 25% speed (Yes i do love it that much). Replace Chaos trait line with Chrono line 1 2 3. And use Viper gear since you no longer gain additional condi damage from toughness. Also SoI changes to Signet of Illusion. You will have more clones and phantasms duo to chrono traitline. This means you can shatter more often. But your shatter skills will be on cd, and that is where signet of illusions comes in play. You can also replace Timewarp with Gravity Well. But i personally think you would gain more from Timewarp.

This came up when I googled condi mesmer. Looks like I actually know what I’m talking about! Even though I have no idea what I’m talking about.

Obtena.7952:

Just out of curiousity, what is the best PVE condi build for Mesmer, regardless of how poorly it performs?

Specific to raids, you want this build: http://qtfy.enjin.com/mesmer#Gear2
It is actually pretty powerful in raids, but that is because you have one high health enemy that you can cast your phantasms on. Most of the damage comes from your pistol phantasms. It would really struggle anywhere with trash mobs like open world, dungeons, and fractals because the ramp up time for the damage is very long.

Fluffy.1932:

Obtena.7952:

Just out of curiousity, what is the best PVE condi build for Mesmer, regardless of how poorly it performs?

Specific to raids, you want this build: http://qtfy.enjin.com/mesmer#Gear2
It is actually pretty powerful in raids, but that is because you have one high health enemy that you can cast your phantasms on. Most of the damage comes from your pistol phantasms. It would really struggle anywhere with trash mobs like open world, dungeons, and fractals because the ramp up time for the damage is very long.

Good gravy I didn’t realize someone could make a build format that unreadable.

Heya!

For roaming, doing events, cleave, I use THIS power build, for max aoe dps.

• The Signet of the Ether can be swapped for Well of Eternity. WoE has more group heal or heal in general, but the signet helps you resummon phanties more often, when participating in events like holding the points in VB. WoE also has a condi cleanse. If you use WoE, swap the second trait in domination from mid to bottom.

• Well of Calamity or Mantra of Distraction can be replaced for other useful utililty skills such as Feedback, Mantra of Resolve, Portal or any of the wells. If you feel uncomfortable with Mantra of Distraction and choose to swap it out, also swap the Sigil of Ruthlessness for Strength for Might.

• As for sigils, Ruthlessness, Strength, Force or Air are all good picks. Take two of them and Bloodlust on your shield.

• If you encounter a single, stronger mob on the run, temporarily swap the focus for a sword, unless the enemy is especially weak to reflects in wich situation you might even swap a traitline for inspiration for that specific encounter. A good example is the bandit champion in Silverwastes.

• If you fight single strong enemies in a zerg, such as the meta event bosses in most of the new maps, swap the focus for a staff. Start setting up by summoning a clone (#2), then the phantasm (#3), heal signet, another phantas(!)m and insert the continuum split at the end of the cast time of the last phantasm. Spam all the dps skills and when you leave the CS, summon the third staff phantasm, go to sword and stay there. If you have to go on the staff, spam MoP instead of the aa. You might want to adapt your Elite accordingly -> moa for cc (ex. Wyvern Matriarch in VB), -> TW for dps (ex. Wyvern Patriarch in VB).

For soloing single target bosses or hero points, I use THIS condi build, for max single target dps.

• This build is what I use in Raids and is minmaxed accordingly. That’s why the condi duration isn’t 100%. This is due a trait in the Chaos line wich grants boon/condi duration per boon on you. Since you won’t have too many on you while soloing, it loses it’s impact, so Chronomancer or Chaos can be picked without big dps differences.

• I prefer Chronomancer over Chaos due to the naturally faster movement speed (you want dis in open world), faster phantasm setup and respawn burst, continuum split stuff and more survivability and cc with the shield. Make sure that you use the shield only to block attacks and cancel it via auto attack, so you won’t actually summon a shield phantasm. Try to hit yourself and your phantasms with Well of Recall.

• Well of Recall can be replaced for other useful utililty skills such as Feedback, Mantra of Resolve, Portal or any of the wells. If you use a mantra, swap the third trait in Dueling from mid to top.

• As for sigils, those are pretty much the only good ones, since you want that duration. Geomancy forces you to swap weapons, wich isn’t healthy for resummoning iDuellits for more dips, Earth doesn’t do you any good with such a slow attack speed and no Quickness and Corruption (stacking) is useless since you’re only gonna solo bosses with this build, not fighting trash to stack. I often just jump from hero point to hero point with this build.

Since a big balance patch hits us tonight, I’d recomment to wait for that before changing or even crafting any gear.

If you have any questions or suggestions, lemme hear them!

Greez!