Guild Wars 2

I usually only bounce from PvP to farming in PvE, but recently I’ve been getting more involved in dungeon activities (The outfit styles are too good-looking to ignore).

That being said, I was wondering if any heavier dungeoning Mesmers had any general advice, and what role they find themselves playing… and what dungeons allow us to make the best use of our particular skills?

Also, are there any particular dungeon armor-sets that look especially good on a Mesmer? I’m liking the eye-themed Arah set for the “Can’t trust your eyes” kittenick.

When I dungeon with my friends or guildies, I feel more usefull with Glamour traited (blind + confusion). I’m on Rabid with Undead runes. Scepter 2 blind, Torch Prestige blind, Signet of Midnight blind and of course Staff.

Most of time, my mesmer friend is here too and he’s on the Phantasm build that provides regeneration (Phantasmal Healing), defense (iDefender) and condition removal (iDesenchanter). He sometime uses Cleric with Water Runes or just Beserk.

+2 Time Warp ftw.

When I run dungeons, I’m a hybrid between the spear head and the support. I’m usually at the front of my party, forcing ranged mobs to waste their initial nukes on feedback or clones, using my GS5/Focus4 skills to interrupt groups and mobs charging up on my allies, using blink to -instantly- get to downed party members, and F4 to rez them with impunity.

My clones die rapidly, but I can pump them out rapidly, which often has the effect of making the enemy ignore my party entirely just to hit some worthless meatshield. Depending on circumstance, Null Field and iDefender work out amazing well for the group. iDefender may die instantly, but its death can guarantee that a party member who would have gone down instantly from a bad dungeon-mob’s nuke is now still standing.

sometimes even the iEnchanter can be of use – I know, it surprised me too – when you find a boss like the golem in CoE who has constant dispellable boons placed on him. Set down iEnchanter, and suddenly the party doesn’t even need to care about his boon giving turrets.

And of course, there’s portal for things like dredge fractals, or getting a bad party past an annoying spot.

So in general, my job in a dungeon is running ahead to startle and disorient the enemy, and falling back to provide support while my party takes up the main fight.

As for best dungeon for Mesmers? I really want to say CM. There’s a lot of projectiles in there, which makes feedback and iWarden (and temporal curtain if traited) amazingly useful to the party. Lots of things you can knock down or pull to delay damage, etc.

But what dungeon you run to make your talents fully shine really depends on what talents you personally have as a mesmer. This is what I do, it’s what I feel comfortable doing, so I’ve built myself to cater towards that kind of thing. You may be entirely different.

I would have to agree with what the above says in everything except for CM. CM, the Mesmer is VERY useful, yes, but in the path with the rockets, your feedback and reflects don’t properly reflect the damage, they just reflect the rockets. It’s not as useful as you’d think.

I’ve done every dungeon in pretty much every path and I run the same thing every way: Full berserker Staff + Sword/Sword with 20/20/0/0/30 traits. I will VERY rarely swap something out, like a weapon or utility (I run blink, decoy, mirror images and time warp), but when I do it’s usually just for one particular fight or area.

Additionally, my build only changes often in Fractals as opposed to dungeons.

Esplen’s got it right. Feedbacking the rockets is pretty bad, sadly.

The only reason I’d ever feedback those is if someone just went full kitten with a blowpack and downed. I could slam down feedback and go rez them real fast then GTFO before it expired.

Edit: I run either Full Berserker if my party is good and I’m familiar with them, or Knight armor/berserker trinkets if my party is bad and/or I’m unfamiliar with them. Usually GS and Sword/focus too! My default utilities are blink, feedback, decoy and timewarp.

Though utilities are meant to be changed, so don’t feel like what you choose to run with as a default is what you’re constricted too! The best Mesmers, and the best players in general, will think ahead in confrontations and swap out their utilities for what will help the situation and party the most.

I agree with Aya. I have a set of Zerkers on, and I have a mix set of Knight/Soldier for when things are tight (or if I want to steal the lasers in Asura Fractal, since full Zerks is too squishy to steal one).

I bring the damage to make up for all the Soldier geared people i get in my groups(Mainly Warriors and Guards) and i bring tons of control, interrupt, combo fields and general support while doing extremely good ranged and melee damage and surviving pretty good.

If i ran something like CM, i’d probably spec phantasm tank with the focus trait, for reflects as reflecting stuff there is just so much better.

I do a bit of a mixture of reviving, using Blink and Decoy to move around, and some tanking, by taking advantage of illusions. In between that I use the Mesmers usual skills, like Portal and Mass Invisibility to sneak past areas, Time Warp to speed up killing bosses, Feedback if there’s a lot of ranged mobs, and then I also use Mantra of Recovery with the trait Restorative Mantras that heal allies. If the party is in trouble, I take advantage of my Rune of Lyssa with Signet of Inspiration.

i go full survivability. I use the runes of mercy with power tough vitality build. staff, focus scepter or focus sword. use the GS on occasion when i find it useful. clones give regen per attack and random conditions on death, this with staff 5, 4, and 1 giving everyone loads of buffs. The group i run with uses combo finishers in all my combo fields for the addition buffs too.. but we have been doing dungeons together for months now. my primary goals are always to keep the team alive and keep illusions/wardens out. (the guardian i run with is the same build type so the entire team has full buffs basically the entire time.. This build is not the best for pug groups.. i have another set for that which is still survivability but with higher damage output.

This is probably sub-optimal, but I’m running 0/0/20/20/30 with restorative mantras and Magi armor with water runes and sapphire jewelry. MoR for healing and utilities are generally Signet of Illusions and whatever other two are most appropriate for the situation but I tend to favor iDefender and Mantras. I’ve been going staff + Sword/Sword, but I’m still experimenting with the weapons. Both me and my phantasms are tanky as hell and the group gets regen plus mantra healing, but the damage is terrible.

0/20/30/0/20 for me with a focus on glamour and manipulation skills. I also run full rabid gear, undead runes, staff, sword and focus. Main utilities are Blink (which NEVER leaves my bar), Feedback, Null Field and Time Warp though i often swap feedback for portal, when the situation requires. I’m primarily a supportive distraction. When my clones stay up, it rains condition ticks everywhere. If a party member is downed, I blink to them and start reviving. If they gain conditions or bosses have too many boons, I use null field. Chaos Storm is also great protection because it always casts aegis on me first. I think it does for party members as clones as well but I’m not sure.

Since I’m going for Sunrise, I’ve been up against Subject Alpha a lot and I can honestly say mesmers are the best class to fight him with. Blink and Phase Retreat will allow you to escape from crystal prisons. Sword #2 is good for evading aoe and saving endurance.

Here are some tactical ways to support your group as a mesmer:

• Mesmers are great at bursting down a focus target (e.g. Graveling Mounds)
• Clones are great for distributing aggro (especially on a pull)
• Blinking on top of a downed player makes for a much faster rally
• Portal & Blink for getting past traps painlessly (e.g. Lasers in CoE, Boulders in CoF)
• Time Warp is one of the best group support abilities in the game. Don’t only use it for DPS, consider saving it for reviving a defeated player.
• With a staff, you can solo many bosses if the rest of the group is defeated (e.g. Subject Alpha).
• Blink and Phase Retreat allow you to escape imprisonment effects (e.g. Subject Alpha)
• Reflecting dangerous things (e.g. The eye turrets in Arah, Harpies in the Uncategorized Fractal)
• Group invisibility to sneak past enemies safely (e.g. Barrel gauntlet in CM)
• Blink + Invisibility to retrieve Crystals under tentacles in Jade Maw
• Illusion of Life should be avoided because it gives a double downed penalty, however, in certain fights (e.g. Fire Elemental Fractal, Lupicus) you should consider using it to rez someone who died in a long lasting AoE or who is pinned under a boss. Just make sure they know to get somewhere safe.
• Distortion and Blurred Frenzy let you continue DPS’ing while everyone else has to dodge (e.g. Subject Alpha’s AoE’s, Svanir’s Frost Breath, Priestess of Grenth)