Guild Wars 2

What are you running in wvw post-confusion nerf?

Did you stick with confusion?
Shatter?
Phantasms?

Tell us

I run a shatter/support hybrid build in WvW, focusing on project reflection: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Guide-Reflection-Mesmer-WvW/first

The nerf to retal in the last patch makes this play-style even more viable.

I also run a reflection build, but it’s a little different from suburban’s one. It is a mix between his and immortal mesmer.

Phant or straight Condition. Got armour for both.

Tagging with phant spec must be a pain.

I drive guardian-powered arrow cart.

Shatter, front line. People get scared when the clones blow up in their faces. It’s a lot more fun than sitting in the back playing glamour.

Archer.1658:

Shatter, front line. People get scared when the clones blow up in their faces. It’s a lot more fun than sitting in the back playing glamour.

This. Sometimes I feel like a thief, popping in and out of stealth and using my clones to distract. This playstyle is definitely a lot more fun than a long-range mesmer.

Having said that, I use gsword, s/t, so I still have that long-range playstyle open to me.

Running 20(III,V)/30(II,X,IX)/10(IV)/0/10(III) Although thinking about moving the ten from chaos into illusions for phantasmal haste not sure. Staff, scepter/pistol. Knights armor, centaur runes, valkyrie weapons, mix of cavalier and berserker trinkets, feedback, decoy, blink, mass invis. I’m mainly a small guild group roamer type

Ele, ill hit mesmer up in a few days after the sting wears off.

gone ‘back’ to my guardian and laugh when i get confused while mashing buttons

nyckolag.2394:

Archer.1658:

Shatter, front line. People get scared when the clones blow up in their faces. It’s a lot more fun than sitting in the back playing glamour.

This. Sometimes I feel like a thief, popping in and out of stealth and using my clones to distract. This playstyle is definitely a lot more fun than a long-range mesmer.

Having said that, I use gsword, s/t, so I still have that long-range playstyle open to me.

I play shatter as well, but using GS main and staff as alt set. I am thinking about replacing staff with switching to sword / focus, tot sure yet.

Same I always have, 20/20/30/0/0 with a focus on providing stealth to small~medium engagements, adding some direct weapon pressure and shatter pressure in the process.

Usual role is to take 1-2 parties and flank an enemy zerg at the moment the fronts start firing their CDs.

It tends to be a suicide role, but the trait setup supports it quite ok-ish. Gives a good mix of things I can bring to the moment, too.

Yeah, this is me being specced neither for damage, nor for tanking!

The recent nerf to confusion and blinding befuddlements (a completely useless trait now) has forced me to give up with mesmer now.. Tried my mesmer for 8 hours in WvW yesterday using 4 different gear sets and multiple different builds. Can’t seem to find a ZvZ build that is fun to play anymore. I’m so upset about the recent patch that I don’t even care about what they added.

Sorry for moaning but it’s how I feel about it and it needs to be said.

I use this : http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgQQNAW8alwzKqHVTmGb9IyZGMH0R+AsV6BulbXIA-j0CBoLERzJPKrZPCi1MFRjVvATVCSdSpWDDwSGwbAyfYZ1A-w

I miss the 5 points in illusions… So if someone have a suggestion…

Anyway, the last couple of days I’ve been playing this build I had very good results

Under Web.2497:

gone ‘back’ to my guardian and laugh when i get confused while mashing buttons

Same here, back to my staff guardian. I keep wondering why clones don’t pop up when I dodge.

I use the mesmer in PvE for my daily, but that’s about it for now.

Arkelia.2198:

I use this : http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgQQNAW8alwzKqHVTmGb9IyZGMH0R+AsV6BulbXIA-j0CBoLERzJPKrZPCi1MFRjVvATVCSdSpWDDwSGwbAyfYZ1A-w

I miss the 5 points in illusions… So if someone have a suggestion…

Anyway, the last couple of days I’ve been playing this build I had very good results

Put 5 points of domination in illusions and your problem is gone xd Dazzing trait doesn’t seem much useful in WvW. It’s more for 1vs1 and synergizes with Illusionary Persona (more stacks) or Imbued Diversion (AoE stacks), which you cannot have.

I would also change Rending shatter (IV of domination) for I or III, since you’ll get more benefits.
With 10/30/0/25/5 and Rending Shatter, you’ll be doing 6 vulnerability stacks to a single player every 43s, without it, 3 stacks. Not worth it…

Archer.1658:

Shatter, front line. People get scared when the clones blow up in their faces. It’s a lot more fun than sitting in the back playing glamour.

Same here.. full frontline with shatter and a touch of reflection

Ansau.7326:

I would also change Rending shatter (IV of domination) for I or III, since you’ll get more benefits.
With 10/30/0/25/5 and Rending Shatter, you’ll be doing 6 vulnerability stacks to a single player every 43s, without it, 3 stacks. Not worth it…

The III is really a boost of damage ? Each time I tried it my clones were doing 3 or 4 dmg instead of 0… I guess it’s still better than 0 ^^
My idea with rendering shatter and 15 in domination was to up the duelist damage as much as I could with vulnerabilty, a condition that most don’t bother to purge alone.
But I wasn’t sure it was worth the lost of the 5 in illusions and yeah the CD is rather long, you’re right. I didn’t take that in consideration when traiting it.

I have to think about it… Maybe I’ll skip the domination line for another on…
Thanks for your advices !

The III in domination makes your phantasms hit 15% harder, clones don’t do damage :P

!!! You’re right, it says Illusions so it’s for phantasm too.
Next time I’ll put my glasses on. thanks =(^_^)=

Played shatter before the patch, will play it furthermore. I like to lacerate my enemies instead of mass tagging people for loot. But honestly, I run around alone or in small groups so playing a burst style build with high in combat mobility is a good idea.

Running with a Greatsword glass cannon build (no-shatter). For offhand I’m using Sword/Pistol (with a Focus in my inventory) because there are no other options for me…

I’d offer my soul for a MH Pistol!

Midnightjade.3520:

Under Web.2497:

gone ‘back’ to my guardian and laugh when i get confused while mashing buttons

Same here, back to my staff guardian. I keep wondering why clones don’t pop up when I dodge.

I use the mesmer in PvE for my daily, but that’s about it for now.

lol i push the button for decoy and end up putting a wall of reflection down- most annoying

Under Web.2497:

gone ‘back’ to my guardian and laugh when i get confused while mashing buttons

True that

Its alot of Shatter Cat Heavy for me when its big fights now days. Its fun to be in the frontline and feel like you durable as a freking tank but still make ppl dead al around you.

/Osicat

zerk mantra build. I suck at aoe so I usually just try to down 1 person at a time as fast as I can.

How are tagging experiences in wvw with the above builds?
I usually run phantasm builds but with greatsword bugged my ability to tag mobs both in pve and wvw is terrible.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNArfWlwzqpHTzpGa9IiJFEHyh6x1tdfXJF22FC-jkDBYLCiINJjWQZkyAgEBK/pIas1hBp6KslXRTdDTHjIq2cTRzkL1WdAA-w

This. Same as pre patch but no longer full rabid.

fadeaway.2807:

How are tagging experiences in wvw with the above builds?
I usually run phantasm builds but with greatsword bugged my ability to tag mobs both in pve and wvw is terrible.

In WvW I play to defeat my adversaries one by one or force them to scatter if they are in a group.

In WvW I don’t play tag. And that’s probably why I survive because I focus more on defeating opponents and positioning and less on trying to tag as many people as possible and dying because I got careless.

And I’d rather have less bags that I can collect instead of seeing more bags that I can’t collect because I’m dead.

fadeaway.2807:

What are you running in wvw post-confusion nerf?

Did you stick with confusion?
Shatter?
Phantasms?

Tell us

Thief.

Aveneo.2068:

fadeaway.2807:

How are tagging experiences in wvw with the above builds?
I usually run phantasm builds but with greatsword bugged my ability to tag mobs both in pve and wvw is terrible.

In WvW I play to defeat my adversaries one by one or force them to scatter if they are in a group.

In WvW I don’t play tag. And that’s probably why I survive because I focus more on defeating opponents and positioning and less on trying to tag as many people as possible and dying because I got careless.

And I’d rather have less bags that I can collect instead of seeing more bags that I can’t collect because I’m dead.

This. There’s more to wvw than just making sure you tag all the “mobs,” if you wanna farm go to Orr lol

Went back to mesmer and specced glamour after the nerf. The uplevels are nice enough to spam extra hard to kill themselves to make up the difference.

I’m experimenting with a chaos 20, inspiration 20, illusions 30 frontline shatter build with power/vit/tough gear, melandru runes, berserker weapons (gs, s/f) and jewels and (drum roll) mantra of concentration(!!), mirror images and feedback.

It doesn’t really work, at least not in unorganized ZvZ. Of course I kill people, but I can’t run trough a zerg like a warrior or guardian

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/New-Build-of-mine-Multi-Build/first#post1952629 best for roaming

Menaka.5092:

I’m experimenting with a chaos 20, inspiration 20, illusions 30 frontline shatter build with power/vit/tough gear, melandru runes, berserker weapons (gs, s/f) and jewels and (drum roll) mantra of concentration(!!), mirror images and feedback.

It doesn’t really work, at least not in unorganized ZvZ. Of course I kill people, but I can’t run trough a zerg like a warrior or guardian

You cant? I can with a 0/20/20/25/5 build and 2 piece knight armour/soldier armour and trinkets/berserker jewels. Your problem however is probably the greatsword – try the staff. If a zerg is attacking you, pop sheild just in case, swap for blurred frenzy, distortion shatter and then do a 360 and staff #2 if the zerg hasnt rolled over you yet. Probably want blink in there too instead of mirror images. If you get killed, then any class would have gotten killed that didnt pop invounerability or blew all cooldowns on healing (which is of course the slight Guardian/Warrior advantage). What the Mesmer does in the same situations is simply evade with your skills. If you are attacking a zerg, plow through it with etheral fields and chaos armour combos until it has scattered enough to focus down people (unless of course they necro bomb, then you dont want to be anywhere near it to begin with). Staff helps immensly when manouvering near zergs.

Been running a phantasm build that I’ve been using for quite a while now (2 months) for small ops stuff. Works very well for me for smaller skirmishes.

I’ve been running this new build that still utilizes some condition damage. Check it out.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Hidden-Fire-New-Mesmer-Build-WvW/first#post1959917

Entropy sounds like a Thief wannabe build, this is why I quit mesmer and went thief after april 30th :P.

Menaka.5092:

I’m experimenting with a chaos 20, inspiration 20, illusions 30 frontline shatter build with power/vit/tough gear, melandru runes, berserker weapons (gs, s/f) and jewels and (drum roll) mantra of concentration(!!), mirror images and feedback.

It doesn’t really work, at least not in unorganized ZvZ. Of course I kill people, but I can’t run trough a zerg like a warrior or guardian

Thats almost exact whar i run hehe.. but swap mirror for blink, blink imo is an awesome gtfo skill when it gets to hot.. and i run with ascended cavallier neck and exotic knight rings and valk access.. works great

Dawdler.8521:

Menaka.5092:

I’m experimenting with a chaos 20, inspiration 20, illusions 30 frontline shatter build with power/vit/tough gear, melandru runes, berserker weapons (gs, s/f) and jewels and (drum roll) mantra of concentration(!!), mirror images and feedback.

It doesn’t really work, at least not in unorganized ZvZ. Of course I kill people, but I can’t run trough a zerg like a warrior or guardian

You cant? I can with a 0/20/20/25/5 build and 2 piece knight armour/soldier armour and trinkets/berserker jewels. Your problem however is probably the greatsword – try the staff. If a zerg is attacking you, pop sheild just in case, swap for blurred frenzy, distortion shatter and then do a 360 and staff #2 if the zerg hasnt rolled over you yet. Probably want blink in there too instead of mirror images. If you get killed, then any class would have gotten killed that didnt pop invounerability or blew all cooldowns on healing (which is of course the slight Guardian/Warrior advantage). What the Mesmer does in the same situations is simply evade with your skills. If you are attacking a zerg, plow through it with etheral fields and chaos armour combos until it has scattered enough to focus down people (unless of course they necro bomb, then you dont want to be anywhere near it to begin with). Staff helps immensly when manouvering near zergs.

I can’t really learn to love the staff, its projectiles feel so slow

Hjulstad.6317:

Menaka.5092:

I’m experimenting with a chaos 20, inspiration 20, illusions 30 frontline shatter build with power/vit/tough gear, melandru runes, berserker weapons (gs, s/f) and jewels and (drum roll) mantra of concentration(!!), mirror images and feedback.

It doesn’t really work, at least not in unorganized ZvZ. Of course I kill people, but I can’t run trough a zerg like a warrior or guardian

Thats almost exact whar i run hehe.. but swap mirror for blink, blink imo is an awesome gtfo skill when it gets to hot.. and i run with ascended cavallier neck and exotic knight rings and valk access.. works great

Ahhh TUPs, I love (hate, really: speaking from Gandara) your zergs, so organized and well packed. I made this build for a similar environment, but I should really join a big guild to try it out for good.

And yes, I miss my blink (played with that since almost the start), maybe I’ll try sacrificing mirror images to get it back

Menaka.5092:

I can’t really learn to love the staff, its projectiles feel so slow

Hence why you want the enemies in your face. The greatsword is better at max range, the staff is best at melee range even if its got a ranged auto-attack. Not to mention you need to be in your own etheral fields to make chaos armour and those fields are most effective on top of the enemies.

Trying out a phant/support build atm

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQRAsd7cl0zipHRzhGbNJxpHQf5OHVBsTqgqLpA38G-jEzAYLJaMGAFBioAQECdyLiJwhsWxKiGr2GT5GZ1LgKOpA-w

Have no room for pistol in this build but it seems to be working quite well without. I do switch out restorative mantra’s for shattered conditions, and run null field or feedback instead sometimes.
The 2 block’s + swordsman timed well will kill or atleast leave a thief running from his life

Menaka.5092:

Hjulstad.6317:

Menaka.5092:

I’m experimenting with a chaos 20, inspiration 20, illusions 30 frontline shatter build with power/vit/tough gear, melandru runes, berserker weapons (gs, s/f) and jewels and (drum roll) mantra of concentration(!!), mirror images and feedback.

It doesn’t really work, at least not in unorganized ZvZ. Of course I kill people, but I can’t run trough a zerg like a warrior or guardian

Thats almost exact whar i run hehe.. but swap mirror for blink, blink imo is an awesome gtfo skill when it gets to hot.. and i run with ascended cavallier neck and exotic knight rings and valk access.. works great

Ahhh TUPs, I love (hate, really: speaking from Gandara) your zergs, so organized and well packed. I made this build for a similar environment, but I should really join a big guild to try it out for good.

And yes, I miss my blink (played with that since almost the start), maybe I’ll try sacrificing mirror images to get it back

Hehe wouldnt call it a zerg but hey we all have our own opinion about what that is… Never run more then 25 the times ive been online atleast.. Usually between 17-20 or something..

Enough about that

Concerning staff: I CANT like that weapon.. and being a full meleer as i am i dont have room for it :P Worth noting is I have yet to have any other class then thief that has a ranged weapon equipped cause i simply wanna be in the action not around it .. So thats why I cant use a staff really :P I dont wanna get stuff those seconds cd that weaponswap is with a staff in my hand hehe..

Best tip from me is try finding a good balance of stats.. Im stiff trying to figure it out myself but getting closer atleast :P since i lack on-demand condition removal i run lemongrass+melandru runes so the conditions come off pretty fast atleast.. I wouldnt go under 2,5k armor or 19k HP tho.. Those are my personal limits atm atleast.. Soldier gear is nice power on and the trinkets you can fool around with.. =)

I also was skeptical about staff, but it proved to be fantastic in 1vX fights and against Rogues in WvW. Damage is not really the point there, it has some amazing defense options.

I still use GS, S/P phantasm build, which suits my playstyle more, but when I run shatter – I always pack Staff.

Gaidax.7835:

I also was skeptical about staff, but it proved to be fantastic in 1vX fights and against Rogues in WvW. Damage is not really the point there, it has some amazing defense options.

I still use GS, S/P phantasm build, which suits my playstyle more, but when I run shatter – I always pack Staff.

Ofc, staff is a great weapon no doubt.. but as you say not rwally for the damage but for utilitie and boons..