Guild Wars 2

Hey people, I’m german and asking my question here because these forums are simply better frequented and far ahead in terms of theorycrafting compared to the german forums. Please ignore any funny/silly/awkward grammatical mistakes.

I’ve been playing a Mesmer since the game started and I think I’m fairly okay with the class. I’m not really here for people to solve “problems” I am having, but I’d like an explanation I guess.

I play sPvP with friends and usually go with Staff Sword/Sword, having
15 (III) EDIT: As BlueFrog pointed out this is a typo, 10 (III) is correct
20 ( IV, X)
10 (IV),
5
25 (III, X)

It’s a “phantasm”-build I guess, but also has a good defense. It works well for me, I’m not seriously considering changing it at the moment, but I’d like to stay open for better ideas. Maybe I want to try other builds in the future, and for that I need to understand stuff.

What I’d like to know from more experience players: Why is the cookie-cutter Shatter-build known as the “best” spvp-build at the moment? I tried that one and it works good enough of course, but on the other hand I didnt see where the large benefits are. Of course it’s nice that traited mind wreck works as a dangerous aoe against larger groups, but I still dont really get why most experienced players are so convinced it’s the “best” build. Can someone elaborate?

EDIT: Also, I often read that a Shatter-Build has the higher skill cap. I do NOT mean to troll, but dont get that either. Essentially, isn’t is just about summoning enough illusions, using the different shatters at appropriate times to evade damage or apply pressure through confusion and bursts? Of course it’s not easy to play such a style well, but why is the skill cap supposed to be higher than for other builds?

20 20 0 0 30 or 10 30 0 0 30

mind wrack dmg bonus is sweet, permanent clone production is a kitten to fight against, u can cast f1 f2 f3 f4 w/o having to have a clone up if it comes to that and the cd on shatter skills is lowered a lot by having 30 pts in illusions.

if I missed something someone fill in.

Runes of air with zerker Staff Sword/pistol 0-20-20-0-30 is probably my favorite all around spec for it’s mobility, damage to survivablity, and hit and run style of play.

What’s fun about blowing someone up in 2 seconds? The blowing them up in 2 seconds part.

when people refer to shatter builds they generally mean 0/20/0/0/30 with 20 leftover to place where it suits you. Your build is actually very close to a shatter build, you should consider moving 5pts into the illusion line for illusionary persona, which is considered one of the best traits available to a mesmer.

btw, the build you listed involves 75 traits when you only have 70 available.

if you have 15 in the power line, why not take 5 and put it into getting illusionary persona, it is much more useful and flexible than vulnerability on daze.

@ BlueFrog: You are right, that was a typo and I had 5 points too many in the Domination-Line. It’s actually

10 (III)
20 ( IV, X)
10 (IV),
5
25 (III, X)

My build may be close to a shatter-build if you just consider how the points are distrubuted, but the traits I actually chose really boost my own damage and the damage of the phantasms, while also adding to my survivability. It’s simply a different playstyle I guess.

have you considered removing 5 from inspiration line and going into illusionary persona? i understand youre going for a phantasm build and retaliation helps that, but it might be worth trying atleast.

It’s definitely worth considering, you are right of course. I do shatter my illusions at (hopefully) appropriate moments, like everyone else, and I could use the flexibility that comes from illusionary persona. I’ll try it out and I believe you gave me a pretty good tip.

Yes you must move that 5 points somewhere else, iPersona would be the best choice.
My best suggestion about shatter builds is to try and see if you like them. Its very bursty and i particularly like the combination of dazzling and shattered concentration.

The reason Shatter builds are among the few viable builds in sPvP is AoE. AoE is just too dominant in sPvP. Phantasm and Condition specced mesmers can do a lot of damage, but they are 1 vs 1 focused and don’t contribute as much in bigger fights. Tanky mesmers are problematic since Mesmer survivability relies a lot on phase retreat, blink and stealth, which make it harder to keep a point captured.

This leaves Shatter builds as the dominant sPvP build with their ability to damage multiple targets, confuse multiple targets, and more easily become unhittable when stomping downed enemies thanks to illusionary persona.

Is the highest burst a mesmer has at it’s disposal. You can burst down someone within 3 to 5 seconds. Of course proper timing and use of skills is necessary.

I play shatter build myself since uhm november or so. I would not say, that it is better or worse than phantasm. Also shatter isn’t harder to play than phantasm. Most people think the key about shatter builds is to time your attacks, manage endurance and stuff like that but thats only half the truth. Most important thing in shatter builds is to develop something like uhhm lets call it terrain tactics. Especially when you play the shatter build version with staff instead of gs, its all about terrain and line of sight, using the terrain to dont get hit, manage your defensive cooldowns and then strike back really hard when you are rdy. This is were shatter really shines if played well.

While phantasm builds have really high damage on the longer run, shatter builds dont bring so much dps but HUGE burst dmg instead. But this means also, that failing a burst can make you loose a fight.

Both builds are strong, im simply used to the shatter build and feel more comfortable playing shatter.

I agree with gorma. I’ll be honest, I’ve switched to shatter a few times simply because of hearing everyone claiming “Phantasm requires no skill, you’re playing easy mode, shatter is so much better blah blah blah”

After playing with it for a while I can safely say I came to two conclusions:

1) Shatter requires no more or less skill than a phantasm build. They’re simply different strategies. Sure, there are a few more buttons to press as a shatter build, but it’s not any harder. You just have to know the strengths and weaknesses of your build, no matter what it is.

2) Your effectiveness with a build entirely depends on your playstyle. There are people who are insanely good with shatter (Osicat for example) and those that are insanely good with phantasm. I find that I prefer phantasm much more, and I destroy people in WvW with it.

tl;dr – Any type of build is fine as long as you’re comfortable with it and understand it. Don’t let other people tell you how to play!

First of all I want to say you are welcome on these forums any time. Your grammar and manner are both excellent, a welcome departure from many of the trolls that come here to gripe about this fantastic game.

Like you, I’ve played my mesmer since launch and I’m sitting on no less than 3 sets of gear that I swap out frequently depending one what kind of role I feel like playing in WvW on a nightly basis. I’ve run all of the most popular builds on multiple occassions:

Shatter Cat
Flimp Conditions
Power Mantras
Phantasm Spam
Zerg Support
etc.

Up until the 50% confusion nerf my absolute favorite was Flimp Conditions because of it’s survivability (very high toughness, stealth and long range blinks). Before the confusion nerf it was very common for me to go 1v3 against small groups of enemies. There was enough AoE condition damage with shatter F2 to down people relatively quickly.

Since the nerf though I’ve found that it no longer shines as the solid WvW Roaming build that it once was because I’m not taking enemies down quickly enough to survive more than 1 or 2 enemies at a time. Many mesmers abandoned or seriously altered their condition builds as a result of that patch.

Since then I’ve jumped around between different Shatter Cat variants (still very much refining my own strategy and mechanics). The “twitch” play style is far more aggressive than the conditions builds I’m used to but I can say without hesitation that when played well a good Shatter Mesmer is one of the most formidable opponents you will face on any battlefield. If you do manage to survive their initial burst you are immediately faced with the daunting task of catching them within 20 seconds or so before they are back in your face with another burst.

Better players than myself may have different opinions / experiences in dealing with Shatter Cats but I always tread lightly around them and try to keep an escape strategy hotkeyed =]

I really don’t want to play a shatterbuild. I live in this false belief that any build is good as long as you learn to play with it, but for mesmers it seems to be the go-to build. I hate when MMO’s turn out like this, where the devs kitten up the balance so hard that only a few builds remain viable if you want to feel up-to-par. People may argue that there will always be a “Best Build”… But the thing is, in other games where those builds are done well; there’s only a very thin blurry line hardly noticeable between the best, and the alternative.

Thank you all for the friendly feedback. It’s been very informative and showed me a pretty silly weakness in my build, so it’s definitely been worth it.