Guild Wars 2

Is there a build that most of you agree is the best for Big group WvW?

Somehow I think what you all think is best is going to be different than what my GL wants me to do… and Ill swap professions before I turn into the veil/mass invis bish

Mesmers are veilbots in WvW. With portals a secondary job. Other than that they just help out gank squads. Large group support isn’t needed or viable outside of veil, but feel free to try mantra heal if your guild is okay with that.

If you want large group support, go staff ele, guardian, or shout warrior. Even ranger has water fields lol, even if everything else they do is lackluster. If you want large group damage, any of the GWEN classes will satisfy you.

It might be true what you said and I am not hating on you personally for saying it but…

You didn’t answer my question and I didn’t ask for your opinion on the state of the class for Raiding WvW.

One of my pet peeves is people that critiscize me for bringing in other ideas or getting involved in other’s situations. Anyway as to actually answer your question theres shatter, PU-power, or Chaotic Interruption. depending on how much survivability you want as oopposed to how much burst or CC you want. And then you just need veil somewhere on the bar.

Builds:
A shatter 2/6/0/0/6 will bring you quite good spike damage, apart from utilities. But it’s also the hardest to play, as you’ll be quite squishy and reta is you biggest thread.
A more safer version, but with less damage, would be Power PU 2/6/6, and play with GS#2+F1, and dodges+shatters.

Weapons:
Best combo is GS+S/T. Spike is done with Prestige+BF+F1. And even with the nerf on iLeap, sword aa is still the best way to tag.
GS/Staff (ranged playstyle) is also a much safer option, but with quite a lot less damage.

I’m not sure what you mean by large group support, exactly. I rarely run with a zerg, but when I do, I prefer not to run in the “stack” but stay slightly behind or in front, and in combat I don’t stand next to the commander but away from the eye of the hurricane, opting to try and take out other ranged players. Any illusions I send into the red ball will die instantly anyway, and conditions cleansed.

I suppose veilbot with some sort of lackluster PU power configuration for personal survival will be what you’re looking for. It’ll be half a loaf, but that’s Mesmer in a zerg in a nutshell.

Well, the group I will be running with will be larger than a havoc and smaller than a zerg. We run with about 15-20.

I remember seeing a video where the mesmer gave all kinds of boons to his group in a very short time. I thought maybe something like that would be good for group.

I would play a thief in my guild but they don’t need thieves. I thought about leveling an engineer, but they don’t need those either. I play a Mesmer, and the openings are for Necro, Guard or Mesmer.

Everyone talks about how fun guards are but I don’t know if I am feeling it. Wonder if Necro might be fun…

If you want to be a support role, then go for guard. Mesmer support in zergs sucks. There, healing, condi cleansing and key boons (stability, protection, swiftness and might) are the main objectives for support.

It’s not we cannot provide that, but the problem is in how. Mantras cast times are really a problem in a game mode where CC flies throw the air. And our way to share boons is far from being good.

if you would like to boon share and view that as being your sole source of “group support” then just pick up the signet and hope your allies give you good boons to share with your allies..

otherwise if you want to run actual support then be prepared to run veil and null field and bring TW or MI and swap for portals… etc..

in WvW if you run Shatter, be prepared to be useless if you run into a larger group when it comes to damage. also you’ll die from splash damage a lot quicker than you want to..

in WvW if you run PU, be prepared to also be kinda pointless if you hit a zerg but at least you wont die by someones luck/accident.

in WvW if you run Phants enjoy never ever being able to support/do damage in a group this size.

If you want a more viable class that has multiple viable options outside of 1v1 dueling (which everyone seems to thing the game is not balanced around and yet that’s the only thing Mesmer’s are balanced to do) for larger team WvW, I’d drop Mesmer and grab almost anything else.

I almost always take my Guard into WvW and have a much better time of things regardless of what build I use..

The problem with Mesmer support builds is that if you go all the way, you’re likely going to miss some fairly crucial skills. And if you want to actually be usefull… You’re going to miss out on the support part.

For example, a standard shatter build (4/4/0/0/6) will perform great in terms of damage and can be a flanker/skirmisher, but you’re going to want the basic survival skills – blink and decoy. That leave very little options for the third skill. If you’re the only Mesmer well then there is little choice. You need veil. If you’re lucky enough not to need it, you probably want null field but there are some other good things you want in a zerg – stability mantra or cleansing mantra for example.

If you run a glamour support build, you can dedicate yourself to veil, feedback and nullfield, possibly even having portal always equipped. These builds generally go down trees that also give you good survival traits – phantasmal regen, menders purity, etc. BUT doing so will leave your offensive capabilities and defensive skills crippled. Good luck trying to avoid a zerg running over you without blink or stability mantra. Good luck trying to catch up to the group when you cant even kill an upscaled ranger.

Its so kitten painful when a raid leader comes in yelling “OMG VEIL!!!” and “kitten WHERE IS PORTAL NEED IT NOW!!!” and then you die because you didnt have blink, stability and decoy… its your fault the enemy ressed. Even better are the raidleaders that think you can just swap to veil when you’re about to engage a zerg and then swap back to blink, like its all fine and dandy. Trust me I’ve been there. Mesmer is a hard class to enjoy when zerging.

In the end, the best thing for a 20 man group is around 3-4 Mesmers talking together about what skills are used so you can pick a couple each (ie veil, portal and null field) instead of trying to make that perfect “group build”.

But of course, good luck finding 3 other Mesmers in the raid. We’re so OP and popular we’re invisible all the time.

I don’t know if this is of any use to you, but I used to run in a 5-man havoc group, and one of the things I tried was a more support-oriented build, with boon sharing and ally heals. Mesmer has a great deal of access to boons, and some very interesting traits in that respect, made even more interesting by runes and food picked to extend boon duration. Unfortunately, you end up giving up a lot of DPS for it, and you need to be close to your allies for them to get the boons you share. It was interesting and opened up new ways of thinking about the profession, but it was also quite ineffective in doing anything else.

You could look at a boon share build (https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/PvP-The-Chaos-Maestro-Boon-Support/). I’ve messed around with it a bit in PvP but it isn’t exactly my playstyle.

It works at what it is meant to do though, and I do think it is the most unique boon support of any profession. Way more active than “LOL I GIVE SHOUTS AND SMASH!!!”

If the guild is actually serious enough to be running proper comps with limited spots then there’s a 90% chance they want you running in the focus group with veil on your bar.
Single target, co-ordinated burst’s on opposing groups ele’s/necros and defending your casters from there focus team will be your roll, with veiling the main group in of course.
Best spec from it would be a shatter varient. 4/4/0/0/6, 2/6/0/0/6, 2/4/0/2/6 etc.
If you’re not as confident with Mesmer or not used to a focus team roll in skill groups then take a PU power till you get a better idea of your job.

^ Why a shatter variant? Just curious what shatter does better?

My only discomfort with a build like that compared to a PU build, there is so much AOE and condi fields—-PU has been the only thing to keep me alive consistently in the worst of situations. I stay alive, I don’t know how much I contribute other than confusing the H 3 II out of the enemy.

I’ve played Power Pu before. What would shatter excel at while Raiding.

Problems with various builds:

PU: You have to be in stealth to make this work. Persistent aoes take you out of stealth, and being in stealth without persistent aoes mean you’re useless.

Shatter: You have no clones to shatter. iLeap won’t work, so you can’t immob people for stuff. Basically you’re stuck just using IP for shatters…which is very underwhelming. Also, blurred frenzy kills you from retaliation now and then.

Mantra Heals: You have to stand around channeling mantra heals. You can’t do anything else, you can’t do damage, and it’s difficult to channel mantras when you have lag.

Boonsharing: You don’t have any really great ways of generating boons. You have to rely on other teammates to give them to you, at which point you can double them, but this isn’t really reliable.

Glamour support/confusion spread: We all know the problems with this. Glamours are great support….but confusion is very weak and will get cleansed.

As of right now, the best role you can play for your team is tanky enough to not die ever with veil on your bar. That’s the unfortunate truth. Maybe after the rebalancing things will change, but for now that’s about it. We used to have some use with the iLeap/iSwap for aoe immobilize…but we know what happened to that.

Edit: Phantasms: We all know this one.

I’d recommend using the re-roll build for large group support WvW.

When Pyro says it… /le sigh. /Sad Panda

Now I just gotta find something that is fun to play.

EnderzShadow.2506:

^ Why a shatter variant? Just curious what shatter does better?

My only discomfort with a build like that compared to a PU build, there is so much AOE and condi fields—-PU has been the only thing to keep me alive consistently in the worst of situations. I stay alive, I don’t know how much I contribute other than confusing the H 3 II out of the enemy.

I’ve played Power Pu before. What would shatter excel at while Raiding.

This is strictly speaking of what has working for my guild, as we ran one single Mesmer, I found that shatter brings something unique as opposed to something that could be done better than a different role. Shatter in the focus team gives you boon strip, dazes and insanely high burst (I can one shot glass ele’s even if the rest of the gank squad is on another target). On the flip side PU power makes you a lot more survivable so your less reliant on the members of your focus team, which is handy if you haven’t been playing with them for a while. In saying that, I think a thief is superior to PU power in the situation, so you’re not a whole lot more then a veilbot again :/
The best thing would to be to ask the raid leaders what they are wanting out of there Mesmer.
Here’s an example. (this isn’t me just the first I found)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OB9tl_FvHUM

Neptune.2570:

EnderzShadow.2506:

^ Why a shatter variant? Just curious what shatter does better?

My only discomfort with a build like that compared to a PU build, there is so much AOE and condi fields—-PU has been the only thing to keep me alive consistently in the worst of situations. I stay alive, I don’t know how much I contribute other than confusing the H 3 II out of the enemy.

I’ve played Power Pu before. What would shatter excel at while Raiding.

This is strictly speaking of what has working for my guild, as we ran one single Mesmer, I found that shatter brings something unique as opposed to something that could be done better than a different role. Shatter in the focus team gives you boon strip, dazes and insanely high burst (I can one shot glass ele’s even if the rest of the gank squad is on another target). On the flip side PU power makes you a lot more survivable so your less reliant on the members of your focus team, which is handy if you haven’t been playing with them for a while. In saying that, I think a thief is superior to PU power in the situation, so you’re not a whole lot more then a veilbot again :/
The best thing would to be to ask the raid leaders what they are wanting out of there Mesmer.
Here’s an example. (this isn’t me just the first I found)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OB9tl_FvHUM

GvG, or organized zerg busting guild raid, running in an organized pick team, you’ve got some builds that’re open to you.

But general WvW zerging/blobing/whatever, there’s nothing.

Here you go

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fFAQFAWhMM6Z25wyBrEBCACpmhDU5hwUdKNH-TVSBABecBAoU9HzUCelyvIeAAzs/AKaIwTHAAHIgAAHAcdUe5CBMaCA-w

Given that his guild is running a proper comp with exact numbers I’d say he’s doing a bit more then general blobbing.

Solid build you linked though, by far the best damage/support/zerg build weve got.

Will give you some open world WvW shatter/melee footage.

Me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPzngWbj3yQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YccaoSERXUI

Others:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAzJRLYW6yE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYqfuWsjkTQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPb4dM78bvY&list=UUwDdT60iB5G_JkJSotlCb8w

EnderzShadow.2506:

Everyone talks about how fun guards are but I don’t know if I am feeling it. Wonder if Necro might be fun…

Necro is a very good wvw class. It won’t give you a support role though as necros are all about aoe spike damage and coordinated well bombs. It’s dependent on getting stability though, while mesmer is more on the fringes gankng things instead.

Thanks Nearlight. I don’t have to have a support class… I just figured that a mesmer playing in WvW groups would be expected to play some dps+support role.

Honestly can’t make up my mind what I want to play.
I don’t like leveling and it seems like Arenanet in their all mighty wisdom has decided to nerf nearly any semi ‘quick’ path to 80.

As a mesmer who still wishes to mesmer in WvW, in zergs I run my chillruption build with signet of inspiration to share all the might. Cooldowns between the three AoE interrupts are about 12 seconds apart, which isn’t too bad. There’s always room for veil (bleh) if absolutely necessary but I never use it.

Never would I say this is the best build to play in WvW – it’s heavily RnG based and you don’t always hit your imbued diversion bomb. At the end of the day though, it’s what I play because it’s a lot of fun and that’s what it’s about.